Thread #31006   Message #3082463
Posted By: Charley Noble
25-Jan-11 - 08:18 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Housing Songs
Subject: Lyr Add: ST. PANCRAS DAY

While we're waiting around for more songs, here's another keeper, a companion piece for "Hey ho! Cook and Rowe!" composed by Peggy Seeger:

Words by Alex Comfort, © 1961
Tune: traditional "Courtin' in the Kitchen"

ST. PANCRAS DAY

Come all you tenants skint,
Pay heed to my narration,
I'll give you a hint
On dealing with inflation;
The Tories were returned,
Decided on a flutter –
We'd pay them what we earned,
Or we'd wake up in the gutter.

Chorus:

With my toora, loora, la,
Toora, loora, laddy,
Toora, loora, la,
St. Pancras Borough Council.

The notice it was sent
From Mr. Price the Chairman:
You'll have to pay the rent
Or get out then and there, man;
The Council took today
Solicitor's advice, sir,
And if you want to stay
You've got to pay the price, sir. (CHO)

The tenants they returned
An answer brief and civil:
Your bloody forms we've burned
And we'll see you at the devil;
Our mate, he's wired in nice,
And sentries put to watch him,
And as for Mr. Price
We'll pay him when we catch him! (CHO)

The bailiffs they come round
Just as the dawn was breaking;
Their strategy was sound,
They thought we'd not be waking;
But as they came in haste
A rocket took the air, sir,
And much to their distaste
Half London it was there, sir. (CHO)

They had to break the wall
And enter through a fissure,
And standing by on call
Was the Brighton Horse Militia;
It was like a NATO show
With Monty there to guide it,
A tank laid one man low
With the goldfish still inside it. (CHO)

When they got the tenants out
By dint of demolition;
The people raised a shout
And flocked around to listen;
They said, "We mean to fight!"
Their comments were explicit,
And we all went round that night
To pay Mr. Price a visit. (CHO)

He screamed for the police
To save him from the tenants;
We had to swear the peace
And in court we're doing penance;
But the Tories should reflect,
It's too soon for celebrating –
There's hundreds to eject
And they'll find us ready waiting. (CHO)

Notes:

Another anti-eviction song from the same confrontation described in "Hey, Ho! Cook and Rowe!" was composed by Alex Comfort, set to the traditional Irish tune "Courtin' in the Kitchen." In this version it is the chairman of the municipal housing council who is besieged in the night by evicted tenants.

Published in Sing, London, UK, August, 1961, p. 8.