> Leon Rosselson > Songs > Across the Hills
> Martin Carthy > Songs > Three City Four: Across the Hills
> Dave Swarbrick > Songs > The Ian Campbell Folk Group: Across the Hills

Across the Hills

[Leon Rosselson]

Leon Rosselson published his stark anti-nuclear song in 1968 in the book Look Here: Songs by Leon Rosselson. The verses were to be sung alternately by two singers with the last verse sung by both singers in parallel. Rosselson noted in the book:

Voice A was conceived as being for a girl, voice B for a man. The two attitudes are intended to be complementary rather than contradictory--I wasn't taking sides. Together, they seem to me to represent a more complete awareness--of the possibilities of life and the possibilities of its destruction.

Across the Hills is the title track of the Ian Campbell Folk Group's second album, Across the Hills, published in 1964.

My favourite -- and in my opinion the most intense -- recording of Across the Hills is the one by the Three City Four (Marian McKenzie, voice A; Leon Rosselson, voice B, banjo; Martin Carthy, guitar; Ralph Trainer, guitar), recorded in 1965 for their album The Three City Four. This track was re-released in 2002 on the anthology The Acoustic Folkbox.

Leon Rosselson recorded this song again for his albums If I Knew Who the Enemy Was (1977) and Guess What They're Selling at the Happiness Counter (1992). In the latter version, he sang voice A and Liz Mansfield voice B in a reversal of the original roles.

Lyrics

Printed version

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Version sung by the Three City Four

Sorry, I can't show the lyrics here as I don't have the copyright owners' permission to publish them. But please feel free and ask me to send you the song's lyrics.