Well, I wake up in the mornin’
feel so sick down to my shoes,
the box-office is jumpin’,
I got the Stage 4 Beverley Blues.
I got the blues
I got those February Festival blues,
I better pay my dues
I got those Stage 4 Beverley Blues.
So, all the venues will be buzzin’
and rockin’ to tunes old and new,
I’ll be shakin’ my booty
at the New York Brass Band too.
And after all the events have finished
don’t go down the pub,
when you can kick back with a beer or two,
at the Late-Night Festival Club
I got the blues
I got those syncopation blues,
don’t step on my blue suede shoes
(is the King here?) I got those Stage 4 Beverley Blues.
Now, I’ve been to Glastonbury,
Download and Tribfest too,
but I tell ya Stage 4 Beverley,
I keep a coming back to you…
and it’s not just about the line-ups
the fantastic acts you choose,
no, it’s also because you continue to have…
spotless festival loos!
I got the blues
those sweet jelly-roll blues,
have you heard the news?
I got those Stage 4 Beverley Blues.
Everybody’s clamoring
For Beverley Community Choir
plus Dankworth, Cambo and Bilston,
this festival’s on fire!
And I’m inspired by all this eclectic stuff
I’ll be attending the Harmony Singing Class,
I’m told I can hold a pretty good note…
more like a cat clawing broken glass.
I got those blues
I got those convoluted, rhyming blues,
I hope I’ve lit your fuse?
Now you can get the Stage 4 Beverley Blues.
So, finally,
as you navigate the upcoming festival,
just you remember this sad old blues boy
who’s got those…
Amazing headliners
and talented songwriters,
spoken word
that’s what I’ve heard.
Tickets I’ll be jugglin’
to see the Saltburn Smugglin’,
Nagasaka and Killen
will get us all chillin’.
The Horizon Stage,
that’s gonna engage,
from poetry to page
it’s all the rage.
Danny Bradley guitar pluckin’
Charlotte Carrivick bluegrass truckin’,
Gary Stewarts Graceland singin’,
Sea Shanty swingin’…
Yes, I think you know by now,
I got those blues,
I got those,
Stage 4 Beverley Blues.
** SOLD OUT EVENT - BOOK THE SECOND PERFORMANCE AT 2.30pm **
Join us as UK Poet Laureate Simon Armitage reads live on stage from a range of his poetry, including new work, and answers questions from the audience.
Simon Armitage was born and grew up in West Yorkshire. He is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. He has published over a dozen poetry collections, including two illustrated Sunday Times bestsellers, Blossomise and Dwell. His latest major poetry book New Cemetery is out now.
Armitage also writes, records and performs with the band LYR and has received an Ivor Novello Award for his song writing. His book Never Good with Horses features his song lyrics for the first time and celebrates his ear for the music of language.
He is the author of two novels and three non-fiction bestsellers: All Points North, Walking Home and Walking Away.
A regular broadcaster, who also writes for television and radio, Armitage presented the popular BBC Radio 4 series The Poet Laureate has Gone to his Shed and, more recently, My Poetry and Other Animals.
An award-winning dramatist, his plays The Last Days of Troy and a contemporary spin on Hansel and Gretel were performed at Shakespeare's Globe.
Armitage is Professor of Poetry at the University of Leeds. A Vertical Art brings together the vibrant and engaging lectures from his tenure as Oxford Professor of Poetry (2015-2019).
He was appointed Poet Laureate in 2019.
Quotes:
'His verse is immediate, entertaining, engaged with the world.’ Independent on Sunday.
'[His] caustic readings work splendidly’, Independent
‘A poet whose work is ambitious, accomplished and complex, as well as popular.’ Sunday Telegraph.
‘Armitage’s fluid poetics are pitch-perfect.’ New Statesman
