The Boatman

I'm not 100% certain what this song is about but i can sum up a half decent guess. It seems to be about how england is not a free country and how living as a "crusty" traveller is a better way of life than being ruled by the government and having restricted freedom.

Or a more genral approach: very few of us are able to choose exactly yhe lives we wish, or are willing to make the necessary sacrifices. This songs just describes some common dreams, and gives hope.

At Glastonbury 1992, Simon sung a different second verse:

If I could choose the life I pleased, then I would be a spaceman Take LSD and Ecstasy and I'll be off my face man But all this ecstasy Does strange things to me If I could choose the life I pleased then I would be a spaceman

The intro is great for dancing to in your bedroom...

ahh this song makes me wanna dance, not their best song.. that title goes to battle of the beanfield.. but yea.. kick ass song

The Levellers capture a fast disappearing England, charting the time when the criminal justice bill was brought about to keep people from reconnecting with nature and non-capitalist life. The Boatman does this most powerfully, and its gentle pace belies the power of its anti-capitalist statement. 'Success' is discovering your own personality and lifestyle (for him it's being a boatman), not some urban Gucci little piggy lifestyle which seems to be all that anyone can conceptualise these days.

This song becomes more poignant as the years go on, school playing fields are turned into construction sites and urbanity continues to sprawl. Good to see that 20 years later folk music and all it stands for is back in the mainstram again via Mumford&Sons, Laura Marling and best of all Stornoway. if you like the Levellers you'll love Stornoway, go check 'em out if you haven't already.