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Daddy, What Did You Do In The Strike?

from Daddy, What Did You Do In The Strike? by Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger

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about

Written By Ewan MacColl

lyrics

It was in the year of ’84 shit really hit the fan,
When Mac-the-Knife MacGregor (Maggie Thatcher’s hatchet-man)
Said, ‘Another twenty pits will have to close to meet the plan,
And we’ll dump another thirty-thousand miners.’
Daddy, were you with the first of the first?
Did you tell the N.C.B. to do its worst?
Or did you save your lily liver,
Sell the union down the river?
A scab, a blackleg, one forever cursed!

When Arthur Scargill heard the news, he cried, ‘This Yankee slob
Is a gift from Cowboy Reagan and he’s here to steal our jobs,
Do an axe-job on the union for the crummy Thatcher mob,
But we’ll show him what it means to be a miner!’
Daddy, did you man the picket line?
Did you fight to save the future of the mines?
Or did you take the wrong direction,
Did you squeal for police protection,
Did you let ’em see your India rubber spine?

When the Yorkshire lads came out on strike, they said, ‘It’s evident,
The only way to stop MacGregor and the government
Is to bring the lads out everywhere from Scotland down to Kent,
And we’ll show ’em what it means to be a miner.’
Daddy, what did you do in the strike?
Did you stand there with your mates and join the fight?
Or did you show a yellow belly,
Spill your guts out on the telly,
Did you let the bosses fill you full of shite?

Some didn’t heed the strike call, for guts and brains they lack,
They’re the colour of a primrose though their hearts and legs are black,
And their noses are all brown with being up the rear of Mac,
They’re just a bunch of dirty blackleg miners.
Daddy, did you march at the head?
Did you stand there on the picket line unfed?
Or did you sell your mates to have a
Fortnight on the Costa Brava?
Did you choose a two-week holiday instead?

Well, the battle it is joined at last, the forces they are massed:
On their side, the press, the telly, all the weapons of their class,
Plus MacGregor and his blacklegs, but we’ll never let ’em pass,
For the N.U.M.’s the weapon of the miners.
Daddy, what did you do in the strike?
Did you scab and let your workmates wage the fight?
How the neighbours stood and booed us,
Said we had the stink of Judas,
Daddy, what did you do in the strike?

credits

from Daddy, What Did You Do In The Strike?, released July 14, 1984
Ewan MacColl - vocals
Peggy Seeger - guitar, backing vocals
Calum MacColl - guitar, backing vocals

Produced by Calum MacColl
Recorded by Nick Godwin
Recorded at Parrot Studios, Bromley

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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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