1. The cotton mills are closing down all over Lancashire
From Burnley to the Mersey from Oldham to the Wyre
And all along the Rossendale you can hear the weavers cry
As the wind across the Pennines moans a low and deathly sigh

2. Save our sheds from unemployment that's all that we demand
We're clemmin' and we're starving with no money in our hands
Redeployment is the answer from Whitehall's empty mouth
Bring your friends and family there's a job for you down south

3. And meanwhile for the last time the factory whistle blows
The profit margin's falling and capital's run low
And the stockbrokers of Altrincham are selling all their shares
Don't give a damn for the working man, no one really cares

4. As the sun sets over Pendle and the rain begins to fall
The Government at Westminster ignores the weavers call
And the glory that was England dies beneath those coal black hills
A vision of Jerusalem and those dark satanic mills