THE WORKERS SONG

             Intro: instrumental

                  G
             Come all ye workers who toil night and day
                C                              D
             By hand and by brain to earn your pay
                     G
             Who for centuries long past have earned more than your bread
                  C             G             D            G
             Have bled for your countries and counted your dead,

             In the factories and mills, in the shipyards and mines,
             Who've often been told to keep up with the times,
             Though our skills are not needed - they've streamlined the job
             And with slide-rule and stop-watch our banks they have robbed,
             Aye, but when the skies darken 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
             Though we've never owned one handful of earth.

             repeat intro

             We're the first ones to starve, we're the first ones to die,
             We're the first ones in line for that pie in the sky,
             But we're always the last when the cream is shared out,
             For the Worker's working when the fat cat's about,
             Aye, and all of these things the Worker has done,
             From tilling the fields to carring the gun,
             We've been yoked to the plough since time first began,
             Aye, and always expected to carry the can.

             Repeat intro, end.