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Come, Me Little Son

from Freeborn Man by Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger

supported by
Bobby Jewell
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about

If God spares me to see the 29th of September, it’ll be twenty-one years away from home. I’ve been married twenty-one years and I’ve been away twenty-one years, working. (Peterhead man working on the M-1, April 1958)

alternative title: “England’s Motorway”
tune: traditional Scots (“Come, All Ye Tramps and Hawkers”)
new words and trad arr. Ewan MacColl

lyrics

Come, me little son, and I will tell you what we’ll do:
Undress yourself and get into bed and a tale I’ll tell to you;
It’s all about your daddy, he’s a man you seldom see,
He’s had to roam, far away from home, away from you and me.
But remember lad, he’s still your dad though he’s working far away
In the cold and heat, eighty hours a week, on England’s motorway.

When you fall and hurt yourself and get up feeling bad,
It isn’t any use to go a-running for your dad,
For the only time since you was born he’s had to stay with you,
He was out of a job and we hadn’t a bob, he was signing on the broo.
But remember, lad, he’s still your dad and he really earns his pay,
Working day and night upon the site of England’s motorway.

To buy your shoes your daddy built a length of railway track;
He built a hydro dam to buy the clothes upon your back.
This motor highway buys the food but the wages soon are spent,
And though we have to live apart, it helps to pay the rent.
So remember, lad, he’s still your dad and he’s toiling every day;
But there’s food to be had and it’s thanks to your dad on England’s motorway.

Sure, we need your daddy here, sure it would be fine
To have him working nearer home and to see him all the time;
But beggars can’t be choosers and we have to bear our load,
For we need the money your daddy earns a-working on the road.
So remember, lad, he’s still your dad and he’ll soon be here to stay
For a week or two with me and you when he’s built the motorway.

credits

from Freeborn Man, released September 20, 1983
Peggy Seeger - vocals, autoharp
Calum MacColl - guitar
Kirsty MacColl - backing vocals

Produced by Neill MacColl
Engineered by Nick Godwin
Recorded at Pathway Studios, London

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Ewan MacColl London, UK

This site is maintained by the MacColl family, aiming to make Ewan's catalogue available to download.
Ewan MacColl is known to most as a songwriter and singer, but he was also of significant influence in the worlds of theatre and radio broadcasting. His art reached huge numbers through the folk clubs, greater numbers through his recordings and untold millions through the radio. ... more

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