Back

This is based, I suspect, on the immortal 17th century protest poem:

They hang the man and flog the woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
But leave the greater villain loose
Who steals the common from the goose.

The law demands that we atone
When we take things we do not own
But leaves the lords and ladies fine
Who take things that are yours and mine.

There's no definitive version of that, I've seen at least three circulating just on here today, some with additional verses. No one owns or controls these songs, stories, phrases or fragments of doggerel, and that's why someone can add a verse four centuries later. They're the collective narrative we tell ourselves of who we are, that's continually evolving as the world changes around us

Billy Bragg could publicise the words of Gerard Winstanley, in response to the Miners' Strike, using a song written by Leon Rosselon. Grace Petrie can release a queer version of Beeswing and Áine O’Boyle can release her perspective

Like fanfiction it's the ultimate expression of maker culture, that anyone can take something, tinker with it and make their version. Ideas are our common treasury, just as much as the land is, and though their identities may have changed over the centuries there are still some power hungry bastards who get to make the rules that keep us from it