Lakeman grew up with his two brothers Sean and Sam in the village of Buckland Monachorum in West Devon, England. He began playing music with his parents and two brothers at an early age. As The Lakeman Brothers, the three brothers released their debut album Three Piece Suite in 1994. Later that same year they were invited by two Yorkshire based singers Kathryn Roberts and Kate Rusby to join them as a backing group on a tour of Portugal. After the tour the five musicians became a permanent group and called themselves Equation. The group were signed in a record deal with Time Warner in 1995. After three full albums (Return to Me in 1996, Hazy Daze in 1998, and The Lucky Few in 2000), and tours in the UK, Europe and the United States, Lakeman left Equation in 2001. With his brother Sam he appeared on Sam's wife Cara Dillon's eponymous debut album, which featured Lakeman on fiddle, guitar and vocals. The album won two awards at the 2002 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
In 2002 Lakeman released his first solo album, The Punch Bowl, which received wide critical acclaim including a review in fRoots magazine which said: "The songs don't just glide smoothly by.....they get their claws into you".
Kitty Jay, Lakeman's second solo album was released in 2004. The title track of the album tells the story of Jay's Grave, a well known location on Dartmoor. That same year he collaborated with Devon singer-songwriter Steve Knightley and young local singer Jenna Witts on the album Western Approaches.
A UK tour in Autumn 2005 followed his Mercury Music Prize nomination, after which Lakeman and his band (regularly brother Sean on guitar, Ben Nichols on bass, Andy Tween on drums), toured extensively with folk-rock band The Levellers, who took to closing their set with a "fiddle off" between Lakeman and Levellers' fiddler Jonathan Sevink. Other support tours with Billy Bragg and Jools Holland brought Lakeman's music to a wider audience.
In March 2006 Lakeman began a UK tour in order to promote his new album Freedom Fields which was released on iScream. He signed to a new major record label, Relentless Records, promptly releasing a new single "Lady of the Sea" in early August 2006.
His fourth solo album, Poor Man's Heaven, was released on 30 June 2008 with an accompanying tour. It introduced a rockier edge to the folk of the previous albums. His fifth solo album, Hearts & Minds, was released on 19 July 2010. Lakeman released his sixth album called Tales From The Barrel House on 18 November 2011.
www.sethlakeman.co.uk
The Riflemen Of War
Seth Lakeman Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We'll take the ship and go to sea
Crush the north in '53
Fought upon a broken shore
With 20 thousand men or more.
We're the riflemen of war.
Make that shot against their bow, we watched their maiden sinking down.
Fired aloud and the cannons roar
With 20 thousand rounds or more.
We're the riflemen of war
All you injured old or young, come let's steal the gold for everyone.
Take the ship, to England sail.
Good heroes welcome, we'll prevail.
Pull the mast to better shores,
A hundred men were back on board.
We're the riflemen of war
The Riflemen of War by Seth Lakeman tells the story of a group of sailors that set out to sea with the intention of crushing the north in 1953. The first verse invites all of the sailors, old and young, to light the guns on the ship and make ready for battle. The second verse describes a previous battle that took place on a broken shore with 20,000 men or more. The chorus then proudly proclaims, "We're the riflemen of war."
The third verse features the sailors firing their cannons and watching as their enemy's ship sinks down. They are victorious in battle, having fired 20,000 rounds or more. The fourth and final verse calls all the injured sailors to come together and steal gold for everyone. They sail the ship to England as heroes where they will prevail. They pull the mast to better shores and despite losing many men, a hundred make it back on board. Again, the chorus asserts, "We're the riflemen of war."
Line by Line Meaning
All you sailors old or young come light the guns on everyone.
Calling all sailors, regardless of age, to prepare for battle by loading the guns on all ships involved.
We'll take the ship and go to sea
We will capture enemy ships and set sail to engage in battle.
Crush the north in '53
Our mission is to defeat the northern enemy in the year 1953.
Fought upon a broken shore
We engaged in a fierce battle on a damaged and fragmented coastline.
With 20 thousand men or more.
A massive army of at least 20,000 soldiers was involved in the fight.
We're the riflemen of war.
We are skilled and experienced soldiers, well trained in the use of firearms and other weapons of war.
Make that shot against their bow, we watched their maiden sinking down.
We fired deliberately at the front of the enemy's ship and watched as it gradually sank.
Fired aloud and the cannons roar
The sounds of our weapons, particularly the cannons, echoed throughout the battlefield.
With 20 thousand rounds or more.
We had access to at least 20,000 rounds of ammunition to use during the war.
All you injured old or young, come let's steal the gold for everyone.
Calling upon all those who have been injured in battle, regardless of age, to help steal gold to share with all soldiers involved in the war.
Take the ship, to England sail.
We will capture an enemy ship and sail it to England.
Good heroes welcome, we'll prevail.
Upon our return to England, we will be celebrated as heroes for prevailing in the war.
Pull the mast to better shores,
We will use all of our strength to pull the mast in order to navigate our ship to safer shores.
A hundred men were back on board.
Despite losing some soldiers in battle, we still had a hundred soldiers remain on board the ship.
We're the riflemen of war
Once again emphasizing our skills and expertise as soldiers, particularly in regards to the usage of rifles during warfare.
Contributed by Nathaniel W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Mick Forrest
I love this track and the backing vocalists Is amazing
Zed Zee
I love the fact that whoever is telling the tale here is from that period of time because they say "'53" and not which century because obviously, for them, that WAS the century, there was no other.
Brilliant bit of lyric writing.
MeowQueen22
Seth Lakeman - I LOVE YOU! XxxX OH his music is amazing! :D
A Purple Kiwi
War*
dogstar75
+A Purple Kiwi
cheers, edited.