The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #85145 Message #1575729
Posted By: Leadfingers
04-Oct-05 - 03:11 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Yesterday's Men & other songs
Subject: Lyr Add: YESTERDAY'S MEN (Phil Coulter)
I think it was The Fureys did a YESTERDAY'S MEN.
It was Joey the weasel who gave us the wire: They're closing the factory down. Though we didn't believe him and called him a liar, The redundancy letters came round. As we read them in silence, I choked back a tear. It was hard to believe after twenty-odd years.
CHORUS: Farewell, my companions, my friends and my workmates. Farewell to the pay days, the pints and the crack; For we gave them our best years; now they've paid us back By making us yesterday's men, sure as hell, by making us yesterday's men.
So we said our goodbyes by the old factory gate One cold Friday evening last year, And I saw it all there in the eyes of my mates: The anger, the sadness, the fear. Like our fathers before us, we worked there with pride. Now we fought back the bitterness burning inside.
"Now Jimmy," said she, "give the kids a few bob. After all, son, it is Friday night." But how could I tell her I was out of a job? From now on things were going to be tight. I remember the feeling; it cut like a knife. I was never a day on the dole in my life.
The machines are all silent; the workbench is bare. There's dust on the factory floor. They've boarded the windows and chained up the gates. They've padlocked the factory door; And I'm on the scrap heap at just thirty-nine, Just one of the hundreds cut down in my prime.
Thread closed to avoid splitting the discussion. Please see the main Yesterday's Men thread (click). Thanks. -Joe Offer-