Spence's Songs

Spence's songs were not just poems, they were meant to be sung; usually, sung in pubs as propaganda for his ideas. All of them used well known popular tunes. The Society of Spensonian Philanthropists continued this tradition from their very beginning:

Even under the modern Tyrannies of China, France, Turkey &c. what could hinder small Companies from meeting, in a free and easy convivial manner, and singing their Rights and instructing each other in Songs? Can Tyrants hinder People from singing at their Work, or in their Families? If not despair no longer but begin immediately, too much time has already been lost. Sing and meet and meet and sing, and your Chains will drop off like burnt Thread.

Spence's Songs were first issued as four separate parts, with a mixture of verse and short texts. Spence's own songs are unsigned, but are listed in the Catalogue. These are all versions of songs issued earlier in Pig's Meat or as separate broadsheets, but with minor textual changes. The remaining songs are mostly signed by Thomas Evans. The texts are also unsigned, but these are new. The Catalogue states that A Dream is by Thomas Spence.