Ned Ludd - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

Music
  • The character of Ned Ludd is commemorated in the folk ballad "General Ludd's Triumph." Chumbawamba recorded a version of this song on their 2003 release, English Rebel Songs 1381–1984.
  • Robert Calvert wrote and recorded another song "Ned Ludd," which appeared on his 1985 album Freq; which includes the lyrics:

They said Ned Ludd was an idiot boy
That all he could do was wreck and destroy, and
He turned to his workmates and said: Death to Machines
They tread on our future and they stamp on our dreams.

  • Steeleye Span's 2006 album Bloody Men has a five-part section on the subject of Ned Ludd.
  • The Heaven Shall Burn song "The Final March" has a direct reference to Captain Ludd.
  • Alt-country band The Gourds affectionately refer to Ned Ludd as "Uncle Ned" in the song "Luddite Juice" off their 2009 release, Haymaker.
  • The Scottish folk musician Alasdair Roberts sings of Ned Ludd in his song "Ned Ludd's Rant (For World Rebarbarised)" on his 2009 album, Spoils.
  • Theo Simon has written a song entitled "Ned Ludd", commemorating the machine-breakers of 1811-13 and praising current direct action protest as a continuation of his ethos.
Literature
  • Edmund Cooper's alternative-history The Cloud Walker is set in a world where the Luddite ethos has given rise to a religious hierarchy which dominates English society and sets carefully prescribed limits on technology. A hammer – the tool supposedly used by Ned Ludd – is a religious symbol, and Ned Ludd is seen as a divine, messianic figure.
  • The novel The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975), by Edward Abbey, is dedicated to Ned Ludd.
  • Anne Finger wrote a collection of short stories titled Call Me Ahab about famous disabled historical and literary figures, which included the story "Our Ned" about Ned Ludd.
  • Ecodefense: A Field Guide To Monkeywrenching was published by Ned Ludd Book. Much of the content came from the "Dear Ned Ludd" column in the newsletter of the group Earth First!.

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