1) Show Of Hands are England's most successful acoustic roots duo - Steve Knightley and Phil Beer. Their widespread appeal is based on the combined power of Steve's original songs, the quality of their vocals and harmonies, and their multi-instrumental virtuosity. Their performances feature guitars, mandocello, fiddle, cuatro, viola and concertina.
Packing venues from the smallest village hall to the Royal Albert Hall in London, the duo continue to produce original music popular the world over.
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2) Show of Hands from Southern California existed in the late 90's/early 00's and played Hardcore. They have a 7inch still available on Smorgasbord Records called A New Day Not Forgotten, a demo, and a song called 'Naked Jake' on the compilation CD As the Sun Sets.
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3) Show of hands was a little-known progressive folk band which released one album in 1970 called Formerly Anthrax.
Witness
Show Of Hands Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We bake bread, and fell wood
Spring lambs in the fields
Sweet water in our hills
And at sunrise each day
We connect, we pray
We've got faith to spare
So, sit down, stop running
He's near, he's coming
And Jackie taught, Alan drove a tank
Ellie travelled, and I drank
John was a farmer, Ben flew
We broke ranks, but we grew
So, sit down, stop running
He's near, he's coming
We found haven here in the Devon hills
Until the icecaps melt and the valleys fill
We'll sail away and look right down
At the carbon footprints in the sand
The upturned faces, outstretched hands
They never made this promised land
Lookout
No TV, no net
No phones, no regret
No past, no doubt
We say, we shout
It's on the wind, and the trees
It's on land, it's at sea
Join hands its clear
That this time he's near
Sit down, stop running
He's here, he's coming
Sit down, stop running
He's here, he's coming
The lyrics of Show Of Hands's song Witness embodies the idea of a community living contentedly without the distractions and temptations of modern technology. The song describes how they live off the land, grow food, and bake bread, drink fresh water from the hills, and observe their faith with conviction. Every day they connect and pray at sunrise. They work and play together, sharing a bond and a sense of belonging, even though their backgrounds and interests are different. The song highlights how they've all grown and evolved in various ways while remaining connected to their roots. The lyrics imply that they've all found a haven for themselves away from the turmoil and chaos of the world, where they can live in peace and tranquility. The song ends with a warning that one day all of this may change, and it will be too late for the world to look back upon what we've lost.
Line by Line Meaning
We've got land, we grow food
We have land where we grow food.
We bake bread, and fell wood
We bake bread and cut down trees for wood.
Spring lambs in the fields
We have baby sheep in our fields in the spring.
Sweet water in our hills
There is clean water in our nearby hills.
And at sunrise each day
Every day at sunrise,
We connect, we pray
We come together and pray.
We've got faith to spare
We have enough faith to share with others.
We bond, we share
We form bonds and share with each other.
So, sit down, stop running
Take a break and stop rushing around.
He's near, he's coming
Someone important is close by and coming soon.
And Jackie taught, Alan drove a tank
Jackie was a teacher and Alan was a tank driver.
Ellie travelled, and I drank
Ellie travelled and I drank (alcohol).
John was a farmer, Ben flew
John was a farmer and Ben was a pilot.
We broke ranks, but we grew
We went our separate ways, but we still grew and changed.
We found haven here in the Devon hills
We found a safe and peaceful place to live in the hills of Devon.
Until the icecaps melt and the valleys fill
We will stay here until climate change causes the ice caps to melt and valleys to flood.
We'll sail away and look right down
We'll leave by boat and look down at the carbon footprints in the sand.
At the carbon footprints in the sand
We will see the marks we leave on the earth.
The upturned faces, outstretched hands
People reaching up and out, asking for help or guidance.
They never made this promised land
They didn't make it to this safe and peaceful place we found.
No TV, no net
We don't have TV or internet.
No phones, no regret
We don't have phones and have no regrets about it.
No past, no doubt
We don't dwell on the past and have no doubts about the present.
We say, we shout
We speak up and make ourselves heard.
It's on the wind, and the trees
Our message is carried by the wind and seen in the trees.
It's on land, it's at sea
Our message is heard on land and at sea.
Join hands it's clear
We should come together and it will be clear what we need to do.
That this time he's near
This time, that important person we talked about earlier is really close.
Sit down, stop running
Once again, we need to take a break and stop running around.
He's here, he's coming
Finally, that important person we mentioned before has arrived.
Contributed by Dominic I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.