The Derby Ram

This song, "The Derby Ram" by Erland & The Carnival is something that I discovered this winter on an Uncut magazine music sampler. Uncut is my own little portal into the music world and this particular sampler was of great interest to me because it was all music that was influenced by Ray Davies of the Kinks.

Like any great Ray Davies song the lyrics tell a powerful story. It's based on an old English folk song, but has been updated with the sad story of Shaun Dykes. Shaun was a teenager from England who jumped to his death off a parking structure in Derby after being urged to leap by the crowd that had gathered. It's a sad story and a great song.

Barbara Jackson said, "Will you show some respect
To a desperate man, will you show some respect"
The bishop said, "I am horrified
By these people's actions, I am horrified"

If you've ever been do Derby, you'd know the reason why
If you'd ever been to Derby, you'd have seen it the same as I

The superintendent of the local police said
"The crowd didn't really commit an offense"
A security guard who did crowd control said
"These were horrible scenes, these were horrible scenes"

The acting chief of the mental health said
"We can't condemn this strongly enough
And no one knows what was going on
Inside his head what was going on"


If you've ever been do Derby, you'd know the reason why
If you'd ever been to Derby, you'd have seen it the same as I

And his best friend said, "That since he was four
He smiled all the time , he was so popular"
His parent just couldn't say a thing
And the tributes were left by the school gate.

If you've ever been do Derby, you'd know the reason why
If you'd ever been to Derby, you'd have seen it the same as I