The People of Cockaigne

 Cockaigne is a mythical land of luxury, plenty and idleness. There are comparable places all over Europe: Italy has its Paese Della Cuccagna, and the Dutch Luilekkerland. ("lazy, delicious land") The Swedes have Lubberland, derived from the dialect word "lubber", meaning "a lazy, fat fellow". 

But the people of Cockaigne could care less about these thin, European copies. No one is fatter, lazier and more ignorant than we are. It's a matter of principal. We know our rights, but we revel in our wrongs. 

The band Ebbing House have released The People of Cockaigne, but we were beaten to it by Edward Elgar, whose Cockaigne (In London Town) came out 125 years before ours. There's a bit of etymological mincing between Elgar's Cockaigne and ours. In the 19th century Cockaigne became conflated with London, the land of the cockneys. But the cockneys were sharp and bright and unsettling, their nickname descending from the expression "a cock's egg", denoting something slippery and unnatural. Not a bit like our lumpen dullards, who derive their name, quite fittingly, from sweet cakes sold to children. That sounds like our guys, that's their speed. The Cakey Kids. 

The People of Cockaigne song is no easy ride, falling somewhere between The Laughing Gnome and a bad acid trip on a ghost train. It is meant, though. Ebbing House aren't happy. We're pro pop but not populism. We don't like racism and xenophobia. We'll take Xenomania, though. We prefer empathy and understanding over bigotry and selfishness. Call us old fashioned, and we are, but we remember when casual, violent hatred of people you've never met just because billionaires told you to hate them was not cool. It's weird to think that isn't a given any more. That its not a factory setting. Jesus, how did things get so bad? How did we let this happen? People are apparently fed up of being told they're wrong just because they keep doing and saying terrible things, and we're supposed to be alright with that. We have to find ways to engage with people who don't want to be confronted with their ugliness, their nastiness. Nigel Farage never apologises. Good on him. I bet he's a right laugh. I'd love to go for a pint with him. I hear he wants to bring back smoking in pubs. Brilliant. Common sense, none of this woke bollocks.  

Ebbing House like this woke bollocks. We don't even take forty winks. Our pissy little red eyes are like basilisk stares. We're setting the cockatrice on Cockaigne. 

Here's the link. https://ebbinghouse.bandcamp.com/track/the-people-of-cockaigne