Lyr Req: Legal Illegal (Ewan MacColl)

14 Sep 00 - 08:42 PM (#297602)
Subject: Legal, illegal - Frances Black
From: GUEST,Barry Lynch

Hi, I'm looking for lyrics for this song which I first came across at the Community Workers Co-op, Monthly Songs for Struggle session in Dublin. I later came across a version that Frances Black had recorded. The only verse I can remember goes as follows:

It's illegal if you are a traveller,
To camp on the side of the road,
But it's proper and right for the rich and the great,
To live in a mansion and own an estate,
That was got from the people by pillage and rape,
Now that's what they call a tradition.

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14 Sep 00 - 10:11 PM (#297697)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Legal, illegal - Frances Black
From: GUEST,Barry Finn

Try a search for the Author, Ewan MaColl.

"Every time you pick up the paper
every time you turn on the TV
You can bet your old boots
That at some point you'll see
A high ranking copper or else an MP
Calling on all that are British & free
To stand up??????for law & order"

I'll see if I can't somehow dig up the rest but it's been an awful long time. Barry

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14 Sep 00 - 10:55 PM (#297740)
Subject: Lyr Add: LEGAL ILLEGAL (Ewan MacColl/Peggy Seeger)
From: GUEST,Barry Finn

Can't believe I dug this out. There may be some minor glitches but here you go.

LEGAL ILLEGAL
As recorded by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger on "Hot Blast" (1978)

Every time you pick up the newspaper,
Every time you switch on the TV,
You can bet your old boots that at some point you'll see
A high-ranking copper or Tory MP
Calling on all who are British and free
To stand up and defend law and order.

It's illegal to rip off a payroll.
It's illegal to hold up a train;
But it's legal to rip off a million or two
That comes from the labour that other folk do.
To plunder the many on behalf of the few
Is a thing that is perfectly legal.

It's illegal to kill off a landlord,
Or to trespass upon his estate,
But to change a high rent for a slum is OK.
To condemn two adults and three children to stay
In a hovel that's rotten with damp and decay
Is a thing that is perfectly legal.

If your job turns you into a zombie,
It's legal to feel some despair,
But don't be aggressive that is if you're smart,
And for Christ's sake, don't upset the old apple cart.
Remember the boss has your interests at heart,
And it grieves him to see you unhappy.

If you fashion a bomb in the kitchen,
You're guilty of breaking the law,
But a bloody great nuclear plant is OK,
Though plutonium processing hastens the day
When this tight little isle may be blasted away.
Nonetheless, it is perfectly legal.

It's illegal if you are a gypsy
To camp by the side of the road,
But it's proper and right for the rich and the great
To live in a mansion and own an estate
That was got from the people by pillage and rape.
That's what they call a tradition.

It's illegal to carve up your missus,
Or put poison in your old man's tea,
But poison the rivers, the seas and the skies,
And poison the mind of a nation with lies,
If it's done in the interest of free enterprise,
Then it's proper and perfectly legal.

It's legal to join a trade union,
And to picket is one of your rights,
But don't be offensive when scabs cross the line.
Be nice to the coppers and keep this in mind:
To picket effectively, that is a crime,
Worse than if you had murdered your mother.

It's legal to sing on the telly,
But they make bloody sure that you don't
If you sing about racists and fascists and creeps,
And thieves in high places who live off the weak,
And those who are selling us right up the creek,
The twisters, the takers, the con men, the fakers,
The whole bloody gang of exploiters.

Barry

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17 Jan 04 - 04:51 PM (#1095056)
Subject: RE: Chords of "Joy of Living"/ Ewan McColl
From: GUEST,[e-mail]

Hi All,

Does any one have ther Chords of Joy of living, please.



Vince

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17 Jan 04 - 06:09 PM (#1095111)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Legal, illegal - Frances Black
From: Joe_F

It's in _The Essential Ewan MacColl Songbook_, under the title "Legal Illegal". MacColl gets credit for both words and music.

For "hubble" read "hovel".

The following line should be inserted between "But don't be..." and "Remember...": "And for Christ's sake don't upset the old apple-cart".

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17 Jan 04 - 06:15 PM (#1095114)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Legal, illegal - Frances Black
From: Susanne (skw)

Vince, try searching for the threads on Joy of Living (there was one within the last month, I'm sure). People will miss your request at the bottom of a thread concerned with an entirely different song. Happy hunting!

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18 Jan 04 - 11:16 AM (#1095531)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Legal, illegal - (MacColl)
From: Charley Noble

This fine song was the basis for a housing song I co-wrote some years ago dealing with mobile home park issues:

By Charles Ipcar with help from Tim Vogel and Dahlov Ipcar, April, 1982
Tune: Ewan McCall "Legal-Illegal"
Key: F (5/C)

Lord of the Mobile Home Manor


C---------------G----------C
I used to work hard for a living,,
F-----------C----------G7
Up with the sun in the morn,
F------------C------------F--------C
Down at the office from eight to five,
F-C---------------G---C-----G--------F
A slave to a boss who would flay me alive,
------C--------F---C-----F-----C--------G--C
Then fighting the traffic back home to the wife,
----F-C---F-C—F---C---G7--C
Just a cog in the big busi-ness whirl.


Then one day I saw in the paper,
An ad for some green pasture land,
A vision came to me: by buying that space,
I'd get myself out of that office rat race;
With a loan from the bank and a deed to the place,
I'd be Lord of the Mobile Home Manor.

So I surveyed the land on the weekend,
Laid out the drains and the lines,
Pads for the trailers, parking for cars,
A management office and junkfood snack bar,
A tot lot for children would be going too far,
I'd be Lord of the Mobile Home Manor.

Now when I was ready for tenants,
I thought who I'd want to live there:
No children, no pets, no motorcyclists,
No unmarried couples or creeping socialists,
Would find themselves on my "preferred guest list"
For a place at the Mobile Home Manor.

And as for those who would move in,
They'd have to abide by some rules:
No jogging, no gardens, no repairing cars,
No loud stereo music or electric guitars,
No patio parties or watching the stars,
Or be evicted from Mobile Home Manor.

No longer a slave to ambition,
I live off the rents of the land;
Sheltered by interest, insurance, and tax,
And clever accountants to cover my tracks,
I need never fear that IRS ax,
I'm the Lord of the Mobile Home Manor.

Most of this song was composed while I and a friend were driving from Michigan to Maine, after he had reviewed his recent experience as a legal aid attorney working with a tenants group in the Mobile Home Manor in the "outback area" of East Lansing.

Warm regards,
Landlady's Daughter

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09 Apr 12 - 06:01 AM (#3335619)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Legal Illegal (Ewan MacColl)
From: Owen Woodson

I see that Mudcat's very own troll is at it again. Hopefully the mudelves will eat it within the hour. However, Mr Anal has given me the opportunity to point out that verse 4 line 1 should read "If your job turns you into a zombie".

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09 Apr 12 - 06:18 AM (#3335625)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Legal Illegal (Ewan MacColl)
From: Owen Woodson

Just noticed another error.

There's a line missing from verse 4 which should read "And for Christ's sake don't upset the old apple cart"

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