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Britain in the late 1950s, a country boosted by a global economic boom, finally emerging from post-war austerity. Throughout the decade, however, Cold War tensions between the USA and the Soviet Union had escalated and Britain had entered the fray to become only the third nation to develop nuclear weapons. This led to the formation of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), a group headed by Anglican priest John Collins and the philosopher Bertrand Russell. Attracting support from across a broad spectrum of the public, a march was organised from London to the atomic weapons plant near the village of Aldermaston in Berkshire, a peaceful protest involving people of all ages; united in their horror at finding themselves living in the shadow of the bomb and in their fear for the future of mankind.
So, from Trafalgar Square on Good Friday 1958, in dismal weather, they marched to a soundtrack of folk songs and jazz; the protest songs of Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, Fred and Betty Dallas and John Brunner, complemented by the revivalist New Orleans style of Ken Colyer’s Omega Brass Band and standards popularised by such British jazz giants of the era as Chris Barber, Ottilie Patterson, Humphrey Lyttelton, Kenny Ball and Acker Bilk.
Jeff Nuttall, in Bomb Culture: “The Aldermaston March numbers were vast, by far the largest ever for political / humanitarian aims. Teenagers among them created a carnival of optimism. It was this wild public festival spirit that spread the CND symbol through the jazz clubs and secondary schools in an incredibly short time. Protest was associated with festivity. There was a new feeling of license granted by the obvious humanitarian attitude of the ravers themselves.”
Tracklist
DISC ONE
BERTRAND RUSSELL
1 Interviewed at Ban the Bomb rally
EWAN MACCOLL AND BETTY SEEGER
2 March With Us Today
3 Brother Won’t You Join In The Line?
4 The Crooked Cross
5 There’s Better Things For You
JUDY COLLINS
6 The Crow On The Cradle
SONGS AGAINST THE BOMB
7 Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger and Jack Elliott – Brother Won’t You Join in the Line?
8 Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger – The Crooked Cross
9 Fred and Betty Dallas – Strontium 90
10 Fred and Betty Dallas – Hey Little Man
11 Fred Dallas – Doomsday Blues (sung in the film, March to Aldermaston)
12 Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger – The Ballad of the Five Fingers
13 Peggy Seeger – There are Better Things to Do
14 The London Youth Choir – The H-Bomb’s Thunder
15 The London Youth Choir – Song of Hiroshima
16 The London Youth Choir – Hoist the Window
17 Ron Fielder, Ray Edwards and members of the Robin Hood Singers – That Bomb Has Got to Go
18 Margaret McKeown – The Dove
19 The London Youth Choir – The Family of Man CHRIS BARBER’S JAZZ BAND WITH OTTILIE PATTERSON
20 When The Saints Go Marching In
CHRIS BARBER’S JAZZ BAND
21 Sweet Georgia Brown
22 High Society
CHRIS BARBER’S JAZZ BAND WITH OTTILIE PATTERSON
23 Down By the Riverside
24 Just A Closer Walk with Thee
GEORGE MELLY WITH MICK MULLIGAN’S BAND
25 Magnolia
ACKER BILK AND HIS PARAMOUNT JAZZ BAND
26 Blaze Away
27 Under The Double Eagle
28 C.R.E. March
29 El Abanico
DISC TWO
SHEILA HANCOCK AND SYDNEY CARTER
1 Coming Down From Aldermaston
KEN COLYER’S JAZZMEN
2 Easter Parade
3 The Original Tuxedo Rag
4 Isle of Capri
HUMPHREY LYTTELTON AND HIS BAND
5 Ice Cream
6 The Onions
7 Christopher Columbus
THE ALBERTS
8 Morse Code Melody
9 Sleepy Valley
KEN COLYER’S OMEGA BRASS BAND
10 Isle Of Capri
11 Panama Rag
12 Tiger Rag
13 Gettysburg March
14 Over In Gloryland
15 Just A Closer Walk With Thee
KENNY BALL AND HIS JAZZMEN
16 Breezin’ Along with the Breeze
17 Riverboat Shuffle
18 1919 Rag
GEORGE MELLY WITH MICK MULLIGAN AND HIS BAND
19 I’m A Ding Dong Daddy
GEORGE MELLY WITH MICK MULLIGAN’S MAGNOLIA JAZZ BAND
20 There’ll be Some Changes Made
21 Mama Don’t Allow
CHRIS BARBER’S JAZZ BAND
22 Everybody Loves My Baby
23 Didn’t He Ramble
OTTILIE PATTERSON WITH CHRIS BARBER’S JAZZ BAND
24 St Louis Blues
CHRIS BARBER’S JAZZ AND BLUES BAND
25 Just a Little While to Stay Here