Dear Mudcatters,

There was a CBC telvision segment last week concerning how we are being ripped off by pub and bar owners. When one asks for a pint of beer one usually expects the Imperial Pint - 20 ounces. Nowadays there are pub owners who serve a "U.S. pint" of only 18 ounces. Some serve a "pint" of only 16 and 14 ounces in glasses made to look larger.

There's a petition being circulated across Canada demanding that parliament legislate a law to ensure that a pint is 20 ounces. Being the radical I am I believe this to be a working class issue! So, in the tradition of songs like "The Man Who Waters the Worker's Beer", I've written the following lyrics.

The melody I use is "The Scotsman's Kilt". Hope you can use it. I performed it for the first time last night in a Windsor pub and got a great response.


DEMAND THE IMPERIAL PINT
words by Len Wallace
music based on "The Scotsman's Kilt"

Comrades, come rally and listen to this tale
About the stinkin' blighters who'd cheat us of our ale.
Stand here together and vow to make a fight
To quench our thirst after all our work with a good imperial pint.

We work and slave so hard for our Masters every day.
Far too many hours for far too little pay.
At the end of the day when we finally take our rest
A good pint of ale is the thing that we love best.

But there are profiteers who would cheat us of our sub
When we order up a pint as we settle in a pub
And after working hard all day you'd think it only right
That at least the pint that's measured is a good Imperial pint.

The Imperial pint it is a sight to make a worker grin.
It is a thing of beauty when filled up to the brim.
Now some would try and rob us so comrades heed my call,
They're stealing our wages with a pint that's much too small.

The Imperial measures 20 ounces to the line.
To give a pint that's less than 20 ounces is a crime.
Now some greedy little grafter's giving you a smaller glass
And shaving off more profit from a thirsty working class.

A warning to the grafters, you'd better lend an ear.
Everybody knows that we workers like our beer.
Serve liquid fermentation in a pint that's true.
You ferment revolution when you're cutting back our brew.

Down with all tyrants who cheat us of our share
and all their greedy lackeys who rob us of our beer.
Here's to the working class and the worker's right -
The world for the workers and our world for a right full pint.

Note:
for the last verse I changed the two first lines to make it fit in with the pub I performed, Windsor's Kildare House, where they always insisted on serving a 20 ounce pint:
"Here's to Heath and Joe who run the good Kildare -
Good solid publicans who serve a Rightful share.
Here's to the working class and the worker's right -
The world for the workers and our world for a right full pint."

For music and the cause that never dies,

Len Wallace
lwallace@mnsi.net