This song comes from a London folk opera in the early 1940's but I'd love to know more about who wrote it and why they came to write it. The song is attributed to B. Woolf, not to be confused with Bill Wolff who wrote such fine organizing songs as "Put It on the Ground."

PITY THE DOWNTRODDEN LANDLORD
(Written by Englishman B. Woolf, Workers Music Association
Tune: by Arnold Clayton after She is More to be Pitied than Censored)

Please open your hearts and your purses,
To a man who is misunderstood;
He gets all the kicks and the curses,
Tho he wishes you nothing but good;
He wistfully begs you to show him,
You think he's a friend, not a louse,
So remember the debt that you owe him,
The landlord who lends you his house.

Chorus:

So pity the downtrodden landlord,
With his back so burdened and bent;
Respect his gray hairs,
Don't ask for repairs,
And don't be behind with the rent!

You are able to work for a living,
And rejoice in your strength and your skill,
So try to be kind and forgiving
To a man whom a day's work would kill;
You are able to talk with your neighbor,
You can look the whole world in the face,
But the landlord that ventured to labor,
Would never survive the disgrace...

When thunder clouds gather and darken,
You can sleep undisturbed in your bed,
But the landlord must sit up and harken,
And shiver, and wonder, and dread;
If you're killed, then you'll die in a hurry,
And you never will know your bad luck,
But the landlord must sit up and worry,
"Has one of my houses been struck?"...

When a landlord resorts to eviction,
Don't think that he does it for spite;
He's acting from deepest conviction,
And what's right, after all, is what's right;
But I see that your hearts are all hardened,
And I fear I'm appealing in vain;
Yet I hope that my last plea will be pardoned,
If I beg on my knees once again (once again)...

I once asked Ewan MacColl about this song and he was unable to fill in any details. Can the Mudcats meet this challenge?