To Breathe The Air Around Tom Paine

The inscription in gold lettering against a green background above the door and windows, reads as follows:

Bull House (circa 1450) – 1768-1774 In this house lived Thomas Paine, writer and revolutionary.

If you are not familiar with the name, Paine was born in Norfolk, and moved to Lewes before going to the American colonies, as they then were.

He wrote Common Sense in 1776 and The American Crisis in 1776-1783, both of which were highly influential pamphlets in the American Revolution, and helped inspire the declaration of independence from Great Britain.

As I Went Out One Morning

The song ‘As I Went Out One Morning‘ is from Bob Dylan’s album John Wesley Harding. When I listened to this song, even from the first time, I thought that the young woman to whom he is referring is the America that Tom Paine hoped for, but which in the ensuing years had become something else.

The song starts with the words – As I went out one morning
To breathe the air around Tom Paine, I spied the fairest damsel.
That ever did walk in chains

There are three verses, and this is the third and final verse:

Just then Tom Paine, himself
Came running from across the field
Shouting at this lovely girl
And commanding her to yield
And as she was letting go her grip
Up Tom Paine did run
“I’m sorry, sir,” he said to me
“I’m sorry for what she’s done”