The Entry for The Hand Loom Weaver's Lament at this site

url=http://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/faculty/kevin.binfield/songs.htm

The recurrent theme of "old prices" in "General Ludd's Triumph" and other Luddite writings does not originate solely with the risings of 1811 but can be traced back to at least two sources. It was inherited from previous textile workers and it developed just prior to Nottinghamshire Luddism among the weavers of Lancashire, who earlier, in 1792, had taken violent action against the new Cartwright steam-looms in Manchester. In the face of increasing mechanization, wages (following prices) fell; in Bolton, average weekly earnings declined from twenty-five shillings in 1800 to fourteen in 1811 (Palmer, Sound 100). (9) Such circumstances gave rise to the "Lament" and its wishing after "old prices."

Palmer dates the "Lament" as nearly contemporary with "Jone o' Grinfield," although much of the decrease in wages came in the years of distress following 1807, especially on the heels the American Non-Intercourse Act and the expansion and collapse in trade with South America, suggesting a possibility that the song may have been composed in 1807 or after (Palmer, Sound 100; Darvall 7). (10) If this date is accurate, it suggests that the song evolved through the period of the Luddite risings, eventually being emended after the exile and death of Napoleon (see stanza six). Such emendation and variation of songs was not at all unusual, as the "John o' Grinfield" series of songs bears witness, and such emendation explains the contradictory evidence for dating within the song itself ("When the wars are at an end," indicating a date before 1815, versus "Now Bonyparty's dead and gone," suggesting a date of 1821 or after).

The song is unusual in that it has an identified author, John Grimshaw. Sung to the tune of "A Hunting We Will Go," it remained a favorite among the factory-workers of the north through the years of Luddism, but more significant is the fact that its themes and phrases gave birth to new songs, among them the "Triumph."

The source for "The Hand-loom Weavers' Lament" is John Harland and T. T. Wilkinson's Ballads and Songs of Lancashire: Ancient and Modern, 3rd edition, 193-95. It also appears in part in Palmer's A Touch on the Times, and in whole in Vicinus' Industrial Muse.

THE HAND-LOOM WEAVERS' LAMENT

You gentlemen and tradesmen, that ride about at will,
Look down on these poor people; it's enough to make you crill;
Look down on these poor people, as you ride up and down,
I think there is a God above will bring your pride quite down.

CHORUS: You tyrants of England, your race may soon be run,
You may be brought unto account for what you've sorely done.

You pull down our wages, shamefully to tell;
You go into the markets, and say you cannot sell;
And when that we do ask you when these bad times will mend,
You quickly give an answer, "When the wars are at an end."

When we look on our poor children, it grieves our hearts full sore,
Their clothing it is worn to rags, while we can get no more,
With little in their bellies, they to work must go,
Whilst yours do dress as manky as monkeys in a show.

You go to church on Sundays, I'm sure it's nought but pride,
There can be no religion where humanity's thrown aside;
If there be a place in heaven, as there is in the Exchange,
Our poor souls must not come near there; like lost sheep they must range.

With the choicest of strong dainties your tables overspread,
With good ale and strong brandy, to make your faces red;
You call'd a set of visitors--it is your whole delight--
And you lay your heads together to make our faces white.

You say that Bonyparty he's been the spoil of all,
And that we have got reason to pray for his downfall;
Now Bonyparty's dead and gone, and it is plainly shown
That we have bigger tyrants in Boneys of our own.

And now, my lads, for to conclude, it's time to make an end;
Let's see if we can form a plan that these bad times may mend;
Then give us our old prices, as we have had before,
And we can live in happiness, and rub off the old score.