Henry's Songbook

Build high build wide your prison walls
That there be room enough for all
Who hold you in contempt build wide
That all the bad be locked inside

The birds who still insist on song
The sunlit streams still running strong
The flowers a-blazing every hue
All are in contempt of you

When you have seized the gallant few
Whose glory casts a shade on you
How can you now go home with ease
Jangling your heavy dungeon keys

The parents dreaming still of peace
The playful children, the wild geese
Who still must fly the mountains to
All are in contempt of you

When you have seized both moon and sun
And jailed the poems one by one
And trapped each trouble-making breeze
Then you must throw away your keys

So let us hope the day will come
When man adores the rising sun
Empty jails and free to do
With no one in contempt of you

(as sung by Skylark)

[1950:] Original version first printed in 'Sing Out' in October. (Reprint 'Sing Out' ?)

[1989:] This song was written in the early 1950s as a response to the political machinations of the un-American Activities Committee under the chairmanship of Senator Joseph McCarthy which persecuted people for supposed left-wing views. First published in the American folk magazine Sing Out, the original words are by Aaron Kramer. Len has added his own words and Gerry [O'Beirne] composed the air. 'In Contempt' remains relevant to the position of prisoners of conscience throughout the world. (Notes Skylark, 'All Of It')