"Ballad of a Working Man" was written in 1973 by Alan Bell for a BBC Radio 2 series called "Ballad of the Northwest" which went on to become a TV series for BBC Northwest viewers only with Harry Boardman as narrator. Of course none of the video tapes exist anymore although I have a dozen of them on audio cassettes where someone had stuck a microphone in front of the TV speaker to record them off air. Quality is awful but they're interesting to listen to.


BALLAD OF A WORKING MAN
(Alan Bell)

I left the land to try and earn some pay
They said there's work in Lancashire today
I've torn my hands and broke my back
Humping cotton and toting sacks
But I've not seen much of the gold and silver coin

Hey hey a working day
Fourteen hours to earn your pay
Hey hey a working day
Cotton and Coal and Steam

From Preston Bolton Oldham and by Colne
I've tramped the roads and never been alone
I've seen men die in falls of stone
And watched men starve to skin and bone
In England's pure and green and pleasant land

There are looms I know that are just never still
With men to work all hours to earn their fill
With women grafting and children too
To earn enough to see them through
While the masters they get richer every day

I've worked in iron and dug for Whalley coal
I've followed the rails and burrowed like a mole
I'm a weaver a miner a working man
I'll turn my hand to owt I can
For a lad must earn himself a living wage

I've eyed the girls and courted with the best
I've drunk my ale and idled with the rest
But I'll always work and I'll always strive
To try to keep myself alive
But I'd rather be rich and watch the world go by


Cheers
Mark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLqh1eFQ3Wo