William Blake

From Bloke to Blake. Kev in the comments to William Bloke suggested how about William Blake. I know little about Blake, I am an uneducated heathen, what little I do know is the hymn Jerusalem, Hubert Parry’s hymn that uses Blakes poem, And Did Those Feet In Ancient Times as its basis, and if you pop into my dining room to the left of the stereo is a 3 CD compilation put together by myself of the 50 greatest songs known to man, and by man, I mean this man, as they are, or at least were, my 50 favourite tracks. On one of those CD’s is Jerusalem, it is in my opinion a work of art and one that I adore.

The version on that disc is Billy Braggs version from his mini album, The Internationale, but as to if his is the definitive version, I don’t know, I have a number of versions and all of them are perfect in their own way.



Blake's Jerusalem by Billy Bragg

The Fall covered it on I am Kurious Oranj, and as expected from Mark E Smith, whilst trying to remain in the same postcode as the original, it is Smith’s take on it so listening you get “and did those feetuuuh, in ancient tams”



Jerusalem by The Fall

Emerson Lake and Palmer cover it on Brain salad Surgery and the politest thing to say about that is thankfully it seems that Youtube doesn't produce the goods.

Even this is rather good, minus all the bloody flag waving.



Jerusalem by BBC Symphony Chorus