We’re carrying the coffin all the way to London town
Carrying the coffin all the way to London town
Carrying the coffin all the way to London town
And we will work once more!
In our coffin is a man who went to war
He came back a hero, boys - beaten, broke and sore
He pawned all his medals, lads, because he was so poor
And he can’t work no more!
We’re carrying the coffin all the way to London town
Carrying the coffin all the way to London town
Carrying the coffin all the way to London town
And we will work once more!
From the Clyde and the Tyne and the Tees we have come
From the Mersey and the Severn and the Yare and Taff and Don
Our rivers may be weeping, lads, but we are marching on
And we will work once more!
We’re carrying the coffin all the way to London town
Carrying the coffin all the way to London town
Carrying the coffin all the way to London town
And we will work once more!
‘A land fit for coffins,’ is what they should have said
Cos if we can’t have work enough we might as well be dead
But while we’ve still got breath in us we’ll sing instead
We will work once more!
We’re carrying the coffin all the way to London town
Carrying the coffin all the way to London town
Carrying the coffin all the way to London town
And we will work once more!
And we’ll carry our coffins all along Whitehall
And when we are fit to drop then into them we’ll fall
And Mr MacDonald he can bury us all
If we can’t work no more!
We’re carrying the coffin all the way to London town
Carrying the coffin all the way to London town
Carrying the coffin all the way to London town
And we will work once more!
The ground is gaping and me legs they feel like lead
The gravestones are grinning and the mourners are well fed
So bring out your jobs or bring out your dead
We will work once more!
We will work once more!
We will work once more!
Carrying the coffin all the way to London town
Carrying the coffin all the way to London town
And we will work once more!
In our coffin is a man who went to war
He came back a hero, boys - beaten, broke and sore
He pawned all his medals, lads, because he was so poor
And he can’t work no more!
We’re carrying the coffin all the way to London town
Carrying the coffin all the way to London town
Carrying the coffin all the way to London town
And we will work once more!
From the Clyde and the Tyne and the Tees we have come
From the Mersey and the Severn and the Yare and Taff and Don
Our rivers may be weeping, lads, but we are marching on
And we will work once more!
We’re carrying the coffin all the way to London town
Carrying the coffin all the way to London town
Carrying the coffin all the way to London town
And we will work once more!
‘A land fit for coffins,’ is what they should have said
Cos if we can’t have work enough we might as well be dead
But while we’ve still got breath in us we’ll sing instead
We will work once more!
We’re carrying the coffin all the way to London town
Carrying the coffin all the way to London town
Carrying the coffin all the way to London town
And we will work once more!
And we’ll carry our coffins all along Whitehall
And when we are fit to drop then into them we’ll fall
And Mr MacDonald he can bury us all
If we can’t work no more!
We’re carrying the coffin all the way to London town
Carrying the coffin all the way to London town
Carrying the coffin all the way to London town
And we will work once more!
The ground is gaping and me legs they feel like lead
The gravestones are grinning and the mourners are well fed
So bring out your jobs or bring out your dead
We will work once more!
We will work once more!
We will work once more!
inviata da Dq82 - 19/5/2019 - 18:35
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The ballad of Johnny Longstaff
Lyrics taken from mudcat.org
Tune: John Brown's Body
Any Bread? - Carrying the Coffin - Hostel Strike - Cable Street - Robson’s Song - Ta-Ra to Tooting - Noddy - The Great Tomorrow - Ay Carmela - Paella - No Hay Pan - Trench Tales - Lewis Clive - David Guest - Over the Ebro - The Valley of Jarama - Trespassers (da tiny notes)
Written in November 2015. Johnny explained in his oral testimonies that the hunger marchers with whom he walked to London composed songs as they walked along. Many were put to the tune of the popular marching song John Brown’s Body so it felt right to do the same.