Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

On a random impulse the other day I decided to listen to Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. For me it is just one of the most beautiful songs ever written, and listening to it affects me in ways I cannot describe.

As the song of the England rugby team however, in recent years the song has become a bit of a 'I love England, fuck immigrants, fuck the government' lovers song. Everyone has a right to their own opinion, and yes as the song is used by the English rugby team it is seen as a song for England. The thing I dislike though, is the comments you see on youtube on the various versions of the song, 'Proud to be English' mixed with 'I'm a black guy saying this..'. It has become common in recent years for these lovely old songs to get banded in with a bit of over patriotic mentality. I love England, I am very pleased to be an English woman, but I do not like when people get over patriotic, it then can border a bit on racism.

It is odd then that the song, before it became the English rugby teams song, was used in by the Civil Rights struggles in America, and was written by a freed slave. Used as a sign of hope and making people believe that things will be better in the future the song provided people with a sense of faith.

So here is my favourite version of the song. Beautiful.