We Have The Time
Jez Hellard

Jez - Guitar/Vocals
Nye - Double Bass

In about 2003 I heard a quote from an Afghan who was asked “What do you think of the occupying soldiers in your country?” and replied “They may have the watches, but we have the time…”

I was gob-smacked by the concision, the wit, the rhythm and the weight of the statement. I knew immediately that it had a song in it. I very rarely write songs, being primarily a collector and communicator of other people’s words, but this line stuck with me, and with a little tinkering, over ten years or so, I crafted this song.

More recently I heard a report of British soldiers discovering human bones whilst digging for roadside bombs near Kandahar. On further investigation they turned out to be the bones of British infantrymen from 1842…