The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #91364   Message #1737294
Posted By: JennyO
10-May-06 - 12:41 PM
Thread Name: Songs about loss of pay, low wages
Subject: Lyr Add: THE POUND A WEEK RISE (Ed Pickford)
There's this one, sung here locally by Judy Pinder:

THE POUND A WEEK RISE - Ed Pickford

O come all ye colliers that works down the mines
From Scotland to South Wales, from Teasdale to Tyne
I'll tell you the story of the pound a week rise
And the men who were fooled by the Government's lies.

Chorus

And it's down ye go, down below Jack,
Where you never see the skies
And you're working in a dungeon
For your pound a week rise.

In nineteen and sixty, just a few short years ago
The mine workers' leaders to Lord Robins they did go
Saying "We work very hard, every day we risk our lives
And we're asking you here and now for a pound a a week rise."

Then up spake Lord Robins and he made this decree
Saying "When the output rises then with you I will agree
For to rise up your wages and give to you fair pay,
For I was once a miner and I worked hard in my day."

The miners went home and they worked both hard and well,
Their lungs filled up with coal dust in the bosom of hell.
The output rose by fifteen, eighteen percent or more,
And when two years had passed and gone it rose above a score.

The miners went back for to get their hard-won prize
To ask Lord Robins for their pound a week rise
Lord Robins wouldn't give a pound, he wouldn't give ten bob,
He gave them seven and six and said "Now get back to your job!"

So come all ye colliers and heed what I do say,
And don't believe Lord Robins when he says he'll give fair pay.
He'll tell you to work hard and make the output rise,
But you'll get pie in the sky instead of a one pound rise.