“Three Girls”… Thank you for the music Palmerston
I wrote the song entitled “Three Girls” after watching the gripping and disturbing BBC drama of the same name.
The drama highlighted the awful way that female children in this country were being groomed, sexually exploited by older men, and then completely abandoned by the Police and other legal agencies.
Maggie's involvement has been paramount in bringing this to the public’s attention.
Astonishingly, I was ignorant to the fact that the kind of sexual exploitation by older men depicted in the BBC drama, Three Girls, was and had, been occurring.
As I also later discovered, this kind of exploitation of female children is widespread throughout the cities of this land, and many other countries….!
When I presented this song to my band, “Palmerston”, each member of the band was angry and equally astonished and added their parts to the song, playing with raw emotion.
Palmerston as one, have chosen to support The Maggie Oliver Foundation, we are all inspired and in awe of Maggie`s energy, belief and determination to bring this subject to the public’s eye and to deal with it!
Alan Rondeau
Songwriter
I can remember being deeply moved by the BBC Drama “Three Girls”. Also, I was shocked at the nature of the “story within the story” of Maggie Oliver’s carefully gathered evidence for the case being perceived, initially, by the CPS as not being strong enough to be believed by a court of law and for justice for the abused girls to be worth fighting for.
A few weeks later Alan turns up at a band rehearsal with his unusual song and I’m thinking: “Wow! a protest song written by a man from the point of view of the abused girls. That is both unusual and courageous! And the chords are great! I’m up for this!”
The next few rehearsals became a homage to the whole 3 girls saga and we all came up with creative ideas adding new dimensions that I didn’t expect like the a cappella ending.
I see pictures of the “Three Girls” Drama every time we play the song so it was a no brainer for me to agree to the project when we were asked to support the Maggie Oliver Foundation’s promo videos with this song.
Julian Pentz
Violinist
Put yourself in the situation that these girls found themselves in, unknowingly groomed to be abused by many for the financial gain of a gang. No hope, no help, no way out, and more! No one will listen or believe you. Maggie Oliver discovered that this was going on and felt so strongly that she defied calls to shut her up, and actually resigned to try to make a difference for girls like them. So I’m proud to be part of her campaign to give girls like these hope. Alan’s song “Three Girls“ says it all.
Martin Hartup
Guitarist
It starts with a song, of course, but songs are a series of connections of music, rhythm and words. Every song connects to people in different ways. Before you hear a Palmerston song it’s connected with all of us. Alan writes fantastic songs, they are like ocean liners of music, rhythm and words and we are all like the tugs that guide it out into the ocean. This song connected with this tug, and I realised its importance. It`s a powerful subject, never gets much air time but it is a brave song and connected with how I feel. I was not a victim of abuse but was a witness. All witnesses feel guilty, but when they take the stand there is redemption, a sense of doing. That’s what I feel when I play or hear this song. I’m taking the stand, making a stand doing something to make a difference. I saw that at Maggie’s fundraising event, when there was a young lady, dancing to 3 Girls. That’s when you realise the connections reach out from the song and reach others. Seeing that wonderful dancing showed the power and responsibility we had, and that is bigger than all of us. Maybe it`s A superpower but if music can make that kind of difference then there is a place for us.
Andy Powell
Harmonica
“Every child has the right to remain a child”
Dave Norman
Bass
This video has been created by David @dmc_media68 music written and performed by Palmerston.
