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Ed Pickford Workers' Song - after the virus

12 May 20 - 01:48 PM (#4052067)
Subject: after the virus
From: GUEST,crumbly

Written by Ed Pickford about the contempt for working people in England by our 'leaders'.
Change the scene to today's health situation & be warned about any promises they make- here's a verse from Ed's 'Workers' Song'

'You're the first ones to starve, the first ones to die
   The first in the line for that pie in the sky
   But always the last when the cream is shared out
   For the worker is working when the fat cat's about'

12 May 20 - 01:54 PM (#4052071)
Subject: RE: after the virus
From: Raggytash

Crumbly, you might want to repost this in the UK Politics thread below the line.

Don't be too surprised by some of the response it gets though!

12 May 20 - 02:11 PM (#4052074)
Subject: RE: after the virus
From: Stilly River Sage

It could be added to a thread about that Worker's Song, if there is such a thing.

12 May 20 - 03:43 PM (#4052088)
Subject: RE: after the virus
From: GUEST

It's a well respected song with something to say about long-established attitudes & not designed for popularity with Daily Mail readers

12 May 20 - 03:56 PM (#4052091)
Subject: RE: after the virus
From: GUEST,Starship

The Dropkick Murpheys take of the song on YouTube. Whoever posted it didn't give Ed Pickford credit for writing the song but a poster a few comments down has had the class to do just that. The words are posted on the pages that go by so one can read and listen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vky9X5Deryg

12 May 20 - 03:58 PM (#4052092)
Subject: RE: Ed Pickford Workers' Song - after the virus
From: Joe Offer

We have the lyrics in the Digital Tradition Folk Song Database. Any corrections, comments?
THE WORKERS' SONG
(Words & Music Ed Pickford)


copyright Ed Pickford
@labor @political
filename[ WORKERS
DG
apr97

12 May 20 - 05:00 PM (#4052102)
Subject: RE: Ed Pickford Workers' Song - after the virus
From: GUEST,Starship

http://www.ed-pickford.co.uk/theworkerssong.html All songs words & music © Ed Pickford PRS/MCPS

THE WORKERS' SONG
(Ed Pickford)

Come all of you workers
Who toil night and day
By hand and by brain
To earn your pay
Who for centuries long past
For no more than your bread
Have bled for your country
And counted your dead.

In the factories and mills
In the shipyards and mines
You’ve often been told
Keep up with the times
Your skills are not needed
They’ve streamlined the job
With slide rule and stopwatch
Your pride they have robbed.

But when the sky darkens
And the prospect is war
Who’s given a gun
And then pushed to the fore?
And expected to die
For the land of his birth
When he’s never owned
One handful of earth.

He’s the first one to starve
He’s the first one to die
He’s the first one in line
For that “pie in the sky”
And he’s always the last
When the cream is shared out
For the worker is working
When the fats cats about

All of these things
The worker has done
From tilling a field
To carrying [a gun]
Yoked to the plough
Since time first began
And always expected
to carry the can		 THE WORKERS' SONG (DT Lyrics)
(Words & Music Ed Pickford)

Come all of you workers
Who toil night and day
By hand and by brain
To earn your pay
Who for centuries long past
For no more than your bread
Have bled for your countries
And counted your dead

In the factories and mills,
In the shipyards and mines
We've often been told
To keep up with the times
For our skills are not needed,
They've streamlined the job
And with sliderule and stopwatch
Our pride they have robbed

But when the sky darkens
And the prospect is war
Who's given a gun
And then pushed to the fore
And expected to die
For the land of our birth
When we've never owned
One handful of earth?

We're the first ones to starve
The first ones to die
The first ones in line
For that pie-in-the-sky
And always the last
When the cream is shared out
For the worker is working
When the fat cat's about

All of these things
The worker has done
From tilling the fields
To carrying the gun
We've been yoked to the plough
Since time first began
And always expected
To carry the can


The above lyrics are from Mr Pickford's site. Because I can't see both at once, I need to put this here for a few minutes to offer Offer--I thought that was pretty good--some corrections.
    Fancy stuff added by Joe.... ;-)

12 May 20 - 05:14 PM (#4052106)
Subject: RE: Ed Pickford Workers' Song - after the virus
From: gillymor

Dick Gaughan did a powerful version of this song on Handful of Earth.

12 May 20 - 05:17 PM (#4052107)
Subject: RE: Ed Pickford Workers' Song - after the virus
From: GUEST,Starship

I read somewhere that the title came from this song, gillymor.

12 May 20 - 05:50 PM (#4052111)
Subject: RE: Ed Pickford Workers' Song - after the virus
From: Joe Offer

I guess I'd say the DT version isn't incorrect, but it's in the first person, while the lyrics on Ed's Website are in the third person. So, now we have both. Thanks, Starship.
-Joe-

12 May 20 - 05:55 PM (#4052112)
Subject: RE: Ed Pickford Workers' Song - after the virus
From: GUEST,Starship

Joe, the changes I was going to bring to your attention are small matters as you'll see with Mr Pickford's lyrics, and I'd bet he's done it both ways with minor differences here and there.

12 May 20 - 05:56 PM (#4052113)
Subject: RE: Ed Pickford Workers' Song - after the virus
From: GUEST,Starship

Cross posted.

12 May 20 - 06:13 PM (#4052117)
Subject: RE: Ed Pickford Workers' Song - after the virus
From: gillymor

That's what I always assumed, Starship, re the album title.

Dick Gaughan- Workers' Song

15 May 20 - 02:54 PM (#4052641)
Subject: RE: Ed Pickford Workers' Song - after the virus
From: GUEST

couldn't Ed be credited with writing these words rather than the performers of them?
Many years afterwards, nothing has changed- the Daily Mail is already on about MILITANT teachers' unions who don't want to risk lives by this f.. government's mad rush to restore what they CALL normality?
The point of all this may be political, but it's really about how one folk writer can be very relevant to England in 2020!
The Bonny Buces over the years, but the 'Workers' Song' is a lot more relevant to Covid-19

15 May 20 - 03:32 PM (#4052647)
Subject: RE: Ed Pickford Workers' Song - after the virus
From: GUEST

the Bonny Bunch of Roses is a wonderful slice of England 200 years ago & some great versions over the years what I meant...