John Tams was a member of Derbyshire folk group Muckram Wakes in the 1970s, then worked with Ashley Hutchings as singer and melodeon-player on albums including 'Son of Morris On', and as a member of The Albion Band. Splitting with Hutchings in the 1980s he formed Home Service. Now a solo performer - fronting a folk-rock band, or in a duo with Barry Coope.
Tams has released several solo albums including 'Unity' (2001), 'Home' (2002) and 'The Reckoning' (2005); all of which have met with well-deserved critical acclaim. At the 2006 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, Tams won Album of the Year for 'The Reckoning', Best Traditional Track (for 'Bitter Withy') and Singer of the Year. Tams is the only artist to have won the Album of the Year award twice, the first time was with his first solo album 'Unity' in 2001.
Tams may be best known to the general public through having played one of the supporting roles in the ITV drama series Sharpe as one of the "Chosen Men" as rifleman and former poacher Daniel Hagman, a whimsical, sober, steady hand in the 95th Rifles always ready with a deadly eye behind a Baker rifle, a folk remedy for an ailment, or a song for a weary heart. In 1996, Tams collaborated with fellow British folk musician Kate Rusby (and others) on a companion CD to the television series titled Over the Hills & Far Away: The Music of Sharpe.
Tams was a Musical Director and actor at the National Theatre from 1976 to 1985 and then again from 1999 to 2001, working on such shows as The Mysteries, Larkrise to Candleford, Glengarry Glenross, The Crucible, Golden Boy, The Good Hope and The Mysteries Revival in 1999. He was a member of the creative team headed by Bill Bryden.
In 2006, Tams became musical director of the BBC Radio 2 2006 Radio Ballads, an updating of Ewan MacColl's Radio Ballads. The series was short-listed for two Sony Radio Awards in 2007. The song Steelos, written by Tams for the Song Of Steel episode of the 2006 Ballads, was nominated Best Original Song at the 2006 Radio 2 Folk Awards. Tams then worked on a stage version of Steelos performed at The Magna Centre in the Rother Valley in 2009.
Early in 2007, Tams was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Sheffield Hallam University which was presented in November 2007. He is married to Sally Tams, his manager, and they have a daughter, Rosie.
In 2011-12, Home Service reformed and resumed touring. They were awarded Best Live Act at the BBC Folk Awards 2012.
Over the Hills and Far Away
John Tams Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
For those who'll volunteer to come
To 'list and fight the foe today.
Over the hills and far away. O'er the hills and o'er the main.
Through Flanders, Portugal and Spain.
King George commands and we obey.
Over the hills and far away. When duty calls me I must go
To stand and face another foe.
Over the hills and far away. O'er the hills and o'er the main.
Through Flanders, Portugal and Spain.
King George commands and we obey.
Over the hills and far away. If I should fall to rise no more, As many comrades did before, Then ask the fifes and drums to play.
Over the hills and far away. O'er the hills and o'er the main.
Through Flanders, Portugal and Spain.
King George commands and we obey.
Over the hills and far away. Then fall in lads behind the drum, With colours blazing like the sun.
Along the road to come-what may.
Over the hills and far away. O'er the hills and o'er the main.
Through Flanders, Portugal and Spain.
King George commands and we obey.
Over the hills and far away. O'er the hills and o'er the main.
Through Flanders, Portugal and Spain.
King George commands and we obey.
Over the hills and far away. O'er the hills and o'er the main.
Through Flanders, Portugal and Spain.
King George commands and we obey.
Over the hills and far away. O'er the hills and o'er the main.
Through Flanders, Portugal and Spain.
King George commands and we obey.
Over the hills and far away.(...fade out...)
John Tams's song, "Over The Hills And Far Away" tells of the journey of soldiers who leave their homes to fight in wars for their country. The song starts with the words "Here's forty shillings on the drum" which means paying forty shillings to the drummer boy to gather the troops to make them ready for the war. The soldiers are motivated and encouraged to volunteer to fight and protect their country. They leave their homes and go through different countries such as Flanders, Portugal, and Spain to face their foes. King George's command is respected, so they obey and fight to protect their country.
The song tells us that the responsibility of the soldiers is to stand and face any threat that comes their way. Even though they left their homes, a part of them always wants to go back home. The soldiers are ready to fight until their last breath to protect their country. If a soldier falls in the battle, the song suggests playing the fifes and drums as a sign of their bravery and to give them a final send-off.
The chorus of the song emphasizes the determination of soldiers to keep on marching and fighting with King George's command on their minds. The song captures the spirit of the soldiers who are willing to sacrifice their lives to protect their country, and their families at home. The song encourages us to appreciate the bravery and sacrifice of the soldiers who fought and died for their country.
Line by Line Meaning
Here's forty shillings on the drum
I offer forty shillings to anyone who volunteers to come and fight alongside me
For those who'll volunteer to come
For those who are brave enough to join me in battle
To 'list and fight the foe today
To enlist and fight the enemy today
Over the hills and far away. O'er the hills and o'er the main. Through Flanders, Portugal and Spain. King George commands and we obey.
We will travel far and wide to fight for King George's commands, no matter where they lead us
When duty calls me I must go
When my duty as a soldier requires me to go, I must answer that call
To stand and face another foe
To stand up and face another enemy
But part of me will always stray
A part of me will always long for the freedom and adventure of traveling 'over the hills and far away'
If I should fall to rise no more, As many comrades did before, Then ask the fifes and drums to play.
If I fall in battle and can't get back up, ask the fifes and drums to play this song
Then fall in lads behind the drum, With colours blazing like the sun. Along the road to come-what may.
Join together and march boldly forward, no matter what challenges may come our way
O'er the hills and o'er the main. Through Flanders, Portugal and Spain. King George commands and we obey.
We will travel far and wide to fight for King George's commands, no matter where they lead us
(...fade out...)
The song trails off, but the spirit of adventure and loyalty to duty lives on
Writer(s): John Tams
Contributed by Madison F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@donwright3429
Found this:
Over Old Hills and Far Away was a poem written by J.R.R. Tolkien between December 1915 and February 1916, and rewritten at Oxford in 1927. It was published and commented in The Book of Lost Tales Part One, where Christopher Tolkien compares the earlier readings.[1]
The poem
It was early and still in the night of June,
And few were the stars, and far was the moon,
The drowsy trees drooping, and silently creeping
Shadows woke under them while they were sleeping.
I stole to the window with stealthy tread
Leaving my white and unpressed bed;
And something alluring, aloof and queer,
Like perfume of flowers from the shores of the mere
That in Elvenhome lies, and in starlit rains
Twinkles and flashes, came up to the panes
Of my high lattice-window. Or was it a sound?
I listened and marveled with eyes on the ground.
For there came from afar a filtered note
Enchanting sweet, now clear, now remote,
As clear as a star in a pool by the reeds,
As faint as the glimmer of dew on the weeds.
Then I left the window and followed the call
Down the creaking stairs and across the hall
Out through a door that swung tall and grey,
And over the lawn, and away, away!
It was Tinfang Warble that was dancing there,
Fluting and tossing his old white hair,
Till it sparkled like frost in a winter moon;
And the stars were about him, and blinked to his tune
Shimmering blue like sparks in a haze,
As always they shimmer and shake when he plays.
My feet only made there the ghost of a sound
On the shining white pebbles that ringed him round,
Where his little feet flashed on a circle of sand,
And the fingers were white on his flickering hand.
In the wink of a star he had leapt in the air
With his fluttering cap and his glistening hair;
And had cast his long flute right over his back,
Where it hung by a ribbon of silver and black.
His slim little body went fine as a shade,
And he slipped through the reeds like mist in the glade;
And laughed like thin silver, and piped a thin note,
As he flapped in the shadows his shadowy coat.
O! the toes of his slippers were twisted and curled,
But he danced like a wind out into the world.
He is gone, and the valley is empty and bare
Where lonely I stand and lonely I stare.
Then suddenly out in the meadows beyond,
Then back in the reeds by the shimmering pond,
Then afar from a copse were the mosses are thick
A few little notes came a trillaping quick.
I leapt o’er the stream and I sped from the glade,
For Tinfang Warble it was that played;
I must follow the hoot of his twilight flute
Over reed, over rush, under branch, over root,
And over dim fields, and through rustling grasses
That murmur and nod as the old elf passes,
Over old hills and far away
Where the harps of the Elvenfolk softly play.
Over Old Hills and Far Away was a poem written by J.R.R. Tolkien between December 1915 and February 1916, and rewritten at Oxford in 1927. It was published and commented in The Book of Lost Tales Part One, where Christopher Tolkien compares the earlier readings.[1]
[edit] The poem
It was early and still in the night of June,
And few were the stars, and far was the moon,
The drowsy trees drooping, and silently creeping
Shadows woke under them while they were sleeping.
I stole to the window with stealthy tread
Leaving my white and unpressed bed;
And something alluring, aloof and queer,
Like perfume of flowers from the shores of the mere
That in Elvenhome lies, and in starlit rains
Twinkles and flashes, came up to the panes
Of my high lattice-window. Or was it a sound?
I listened and marveled with eyes on the ground.
For there came from afar a filtered note
Enchanting sweet, now clear, now remote,
As clear as a star in a pool by the reeds,
As faint as the glimmer of dew on the weeds.
Then I left the window and followed the call
Down the creaking stairs and across the hall
Out through a door that swung tall and grey,
And over the lawn, and away, away!
It was Tinfang Warble that was dancing there,
Fluting and tossing his old white hair,
Till it sparkled like frost in a winter moon;
And the stars were about him, and blinked to his tune
Shimmering blue like sparks in a haze,
As always they shimmer and shake when he plays.
My feet only made there the ghost of a sound
On the shining white pebbles that ringed him round,
Where his little feet flashed on a circle of sand,
And the fingers were white on his flickering hand.
In the wink of a star he had leapt in the air
With his fluttering cap and his glistening hair;
And had cast his long flute right over his back,
Where it hung by a ribbon of silver and black.
His slim little body went fine as a shade,
And he slipped through the reeds like mist in the glade;
And laughed like thin silver, and piped a thin note,
As he flapped in the shadows his shadowy coat.
O! the toes of his slippers were twisted and curled,
But he danced like a wind out into the world.
He is gone, and the valley is empty and bare
Where lonely I stand and lonely I stare.
Then suddenly out in the meadows beyond,
Then back in the reeds by the shimmering pond,
Then afar from a copse were the mosses are thick
A few little notes came a trillaping quick.
I leapt o’er the stream and I sped from the glade,
For Tinfang Warble it was that played;
I must follow the hoot of his twilight flute
Over reed, over rush, under branch, over root,
And over dim fields, and through rustling grasses
That murmur and nod as the old elf passes,
Over old hills and far away
Where the harps of the Elvenfolk softly play.
@AntPDC
Please be respectful of all points of view when expressing opinions here. Good manners cost nothing. In the UK and in other civilised nations, manners define both the man, the woman, and the culture. Vulgar yobs seeking to advance some nutjob agenda via foul language, extreme discourtesy, should look elsewhere. Whilst I completely support the right to Free Speech, as first expressed in English Common Law throughout the ages, I don't have time to police comments on an hourly basis. Please keep it sane; keep it respectful. Common sense defines the boundaries - boundaries even my pet rabbit can discern.
@suilvenmountain2395
But, sir, this is a political song.
@johnlawrence7150
Well done ant ,for those very kind and wise words ,my sentiments exactly!
@AntPDC
@Suilven Mountain Nothing wrong with politics. What is your quibble?
@poort33
@AntPDC maybe the fact you said "This is not a political Channel" whilst posting a political protest song?
@AntPDC
stuart burdett This is a Channel focussed primarily on music. You presume too much.
@GailFynes
I love this song. My 4 x great grandfather fought & was wounded at Hougoumont at the Battle of Waterloo, but lived to be an old man, blinded in one eye & respected by all around him.
@calvaryn
Three cheers for your 4 x great grandfather 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
@tabletsam5624
As an old Soldier this song brings Tears in my Eyes. One of the best Soldiers Songs. Greetings from Germany
@SwarmDoctor
I'm not British, nor am I even of British heritage. But I absolutely love this song. The British have so much to be proud of.