The last chorus

People singing the final chorus of The Queer Fat Harvest Hymn, courtesy of Kay Hyatt.

Fat of the Land Schedule

2pm
Our Guest of Honour BJ will open The Fat of the Land.

2-4.30pm
* Art, activities, conversation, displays, eating, information, marvelling and mingling, poetry, tea-drinking and our wonderful stalls.
* Buy yourself a spot as a guest judge in our competitions
* Enter your home-made jams, chutneys, decorated cupcakes, cakes (fancy and teatime) and vegetable monsters into the competitions. These will be judged at 4pm.
* Buy raffle tickets and win amazing prizes.
* Donate unwanted weight loss paraphernalia to the Diet Bin of Doom.

4pm
Competition judging

4.30pm
Competition, raffle and silent auction winners announced.

5pm
Entertainment provided by The 123s, Scottee, and Chopin. Singing of the Fat Queer Harvest Hymn.

5.30pm
Special guests The Blackhorse and Standard Women’s North West Morris will close the event with some dancing.

Fab new versions of the Fat Queer Harvest Hymn!

I always suspected that Mike Wyeld and Chopin Gard were the most talented fat queers in town and now I know it's true because, look people, they have recorded their own versions of The Fat Queer Harvest Hymn. Maybe they were inspired to do so by themselves, they both get a name-check in the hymn.

Version one makes them sound like a pair of medieval minstrels wandering the hills and dales (.mp3, 2.1mb) with a fol-de-rol and a hey nonny no. They've sampled my recorder too!

Version two blows my mind as Chopin channels Hendrix at Woodstock (.mp3, 964kb). Swoon.

Version three is a hoot - your very own karaoke version! (.mp3, 2mb) record your own vocals on top, in any lo-fi way you choose, and submit it to the blog. I will find a crap prize from under the settee cushion for the best.

Listen, enjoy, and come and sing the hymn with all of us at The Fat of the Land on 3 October.

Fat Queer Harvest Hymn

Kay Hyatt, Simon Murphy and I wrote a secular Fat Queer Harvest Hymn that gives Harvest Festival-style thanks for fat queers of the past, present and future. I composed the tune on my recorder! Yes, once again, I am well aware that we are some of the most ridiculous freaks of the universe.

Anyway, here's a little video of the three of us giving it a whirl, I'm trying to look as pious as I can: Fat Queer Harvest Hymn. Let me know if you have trouble viewing it.

I'm hoping that we can teach it to people and that we can all sing it together at the Festival. Maybe you'd like to learn it and make your own recordings or videos of yourselves singing it? I could post them on the blog.

This is only the first version, it may develop, and I am open to suggestions. Just so you know.

Here are the words:

Fat Queer Harvest Hymn
by The 123s, London, July 2009

chorus: So thanks to all the fatty queers
The ones who've come before us
For trailblazing through the years
We sing our grateful chorus

Let's start our fat queer history
With The Fat Underground
The FaT GiRL zine defined the scene
And BJ won her crown

(chorus)

Community is strong today
With NOLOSE at the top
The Chubster Gang, Mike and Chopin,
Beth Ditto and The Bop

(chorus)

We don't know what the future holds
Some people think we're wrong
The tree we've planted will bear fruit
As long as we are strong

(chorus, with extra gusto)

I can't write music, but the hymn consists of the following notes on the recorder:

chorus:
B B D B G A B
B B B D B B A
B B D B G A B
B B B A A A G

verse:
G G G C B C B A
D D D E D A
D D D E D C B A
A B G A F# G

Please get in touch if you can write music, and/or feel free to create your own arrangements of the hymn.