Witney Music Festival

As we only appreciate peace after violence,

There couldn’t be noise if it wasn’t for silence.

And so it began: Small-scale at first,

A tiny seed beginning to burst,

Communal music, played and sung,

One tribe beneath one moon and sun.

And so it spread throughout the town,

The heartfelt grassroots local sound,

Where neighbours picked up old guitars

And blew the roof off backrooms bars,

And beer gardens and makeshift clubs

And poky rooms above the pubs

Gazebo tents and upstairs rooms,

The well-known words, familiar tunes,

The feelgood covers, loved and known, the

Debuts, premieres, one night onlys,

A richness of songs, a common wealth

“Now here’s a little something I wrote myself…”

Now scratch the record: It’s fifteen years,

And after everything, find us here,

A heaving sweating singing collective,

A bigger party, the same objective:

A magical, musical, mind-blowing time,

A midsummer’s dream, come rain, come shine,

A soulful solstice in the centre of town,

Stages shared by megastars

And those that started in those backroom bars,

With people come from miles around

To feel the noize and surf the sound

To share the air and pass the charge

That was channel between us like pylons.

                                                It started with a silence,

A tribute to a tragedy,

As a stillness became a stirring,

As a memory becomes a melody.

As R&R becomes rock and roll,

As mortal becomes immortal, as the spirit becomes soul.

As a farewell becomes a festival

As an end becomes a crescendo,

As loved ones become legends

As strangers become friends and

As friends become a family,

As families become a community,

To spread the peace and love and to preach and practise unity.

As anyone becomes everyone,

And as everyone stands tall,

Becomes the voice of a town in harmony, 

Becomes the beat

                                At the heart

                                                Of us all.