SUMMARY:

A special song looking back at the contributions of Black Britons since the very start.

From the 2021 Specials

LYRICS:

Please lend me your ears

For this news I shall impart

You may not have been told

We have been here from the start.

​

We worked in the Stone Age,

Went to war with Bonaparte;

Before these isles were British

Black people played their part.

​

Cheddar man was Mesolithic

10, 000 years from now,

When the animals were terrific

(You should see his giant cow.)

​

And the Roman Emperor General

And the brave Aurelian Moors,

Were just a few of several

Who walked upon these shores.

​

Listen to the tales

And these words I shall impart

Before Harold lost at Hastings

Black people played their part.

​

Queen Catherine and Henry

Had a trumpeter called John

And a maid call Catalina

But from history books they're gone!

​

Of naked Georgian writers

And the stars of boxing rings

To the battlefields of Europe

And the Windrush I can sing

​

Please lend me your ears

For this news I shall impart

Before Harold lost at Hastings

Black people played their part.

​

These histories are just stories, there's truths for us to see

That for 10, 000 British years some Brits have looked like me.

And today the future's hopeful; Rashford and Stormzy light the way

Evaristo, Blackman, Hamilton, Kaluuya and many more names to say.

​

Listen to the tales

There are words to fill your heart

You may not have been told

We have been here from the start.

​

Try to map our journey

You will need a bigger chart

Before these isles were British

Black people played their part.