This track speaks to me personally as I actually come from the Leeds / Bradford area where New Model Army started as a band. Living in West Yorkshire you are always surrounded by the valleys of green and grey - green for the wood and grass covered hills and grey of the soot marked stone that is commonly used to build the local mills / buildings and terraced houses.
Yes even now in small town West Yorkshire, places like Bradford, Huddersfield, Halifax, Morley, Batley you can get your head kicked in by the locals on a Friday night for having hair longer than the approved length, still get called a 'poof' - even though I dont think gay guys ever had long hair styles frustratingly!
Obviously the song is referring to friends / brothers etc who have since departed the small town birthplace for sunnier climes or more exciting / rewarding careers in the big smoke (London?) and few never look back. As someone who moved out of my hometown to move to a better place, albeit not that far away I can empathize with the sentiment of the lyrics. It does seem to suggest that people who leave home somehow betray their roots, but given the limited options / smalltown mentality they are escaping who can blame them? Not me, I'm one of them in a way. So from these valleys of the green and the grey, and the rain soaked hills of West Yorkshire, I send you humble greetings. And if 'Slade the Leveller' ever reads this, nice work pal!
@jonleeds Definitely, I grew up in the same sort of world but on the other side of the Pennines. Growing up I was in a group of punks and hippys and was the only one of the group to go to uni (a bit later in life when I was about 20) It was pretty much just to get away from the town that had a small town mentality and big city problems. When I came back at christmas a friend drunkenly sang this to me, a few weeks later he came to visit and within months he left the...
@jonleeds Definitely, I grew up in the same sort of world but on the other side of the Pennines. Growing up I was in a group of punks and hippys and was the only one of the group to go to uni (a bit later in life when I was about 20) It was pretty much just to get away from the town that had a small town mentality and big city problems. When I came back at christmas a friend drunkenly sang this to me, a few weeks later he came to visit and within months he left the town as well! Just seeing that there is something else can be enough.
This track speaks to me personally as I actually come from the Leeds / Bradford area where New Model Army started as a band. Living in West Yorkshire you are always surrounded by the valleys of green and grey - green for the wood and grass covered hills and grey of the soot marked stone that is commonly used to build the local mills / buildings and terraced houses.
Yes even now in small town West Yorkshire, places like Bradford, Huddersfield, Halifax, Morley, Batley you can get your head kicked in by the locals on a Friday night for having hair longer than the approved length, still get called a 'poof' - even though I dont think gay guys ever had long hair styles frustratingly!
Obviously the song is referring to friends / brothers etc who have since departed the small town birthplace for sunnier climes or more exciting / rewarding careers in the big smoke (London?) and few never look back. As someone who moved out of my hometown to move to a better place, albeit not that far away I can empathize with the sentiment of the lyrics. It does seem to suggest that people who leave home somehow betray their roots, but given the limited options / smalltown mentality they are escaping who can blame them? Not me, I'm one of them in a way. So from these valleys of the green and the grey, and the rain soaked hills of West Yorkshire, I send you humble greetings. And if 'Slade the Leveller' ever reads this, nice work pal!
@jonleeds Definitely, I grew up in the same sort of world but on the other side of the Pennines. Growing up I was in a group of punks and hippys and was the only one of the group to go to uni (a bit later in life when I was about 20) It was pretty much just to get away from the town that had a small town mentality and big city problems. When I came back at christmas a friend drunkenly sang this to me, a few weeks later he came to visit and within months he left the...
@jonleeds Definitely, I grew up in the same sort of world but on the other side of the Pennines. Growing up I was in a group of punks and hippys and was the only one of the group to go to uni (a bit later in life when I was about 20) It was pretty much just to get away from the town that had a small town mentality and big city problems. When I came back at christmas a friend drunkenly sang this to me, a few weeks later he came to visit and within months he left the town as well! Just seeing that there is something else can be enough.