Work Song – Theo Simon

Sacrifice my birthright for a promise daily broken
Eat away my spirit with a thought that’s never spoken
Excrement behind me and consumables ahead
No sympathy between me and the labour mill I tread

Chorus: I sacrifice my birthright for a promise daily broken,
I eat away my spirit with a thought that’s never spoken.

Domesticated animals, we pace the factory floor
And I don’t know what all of this machinery is for

Chorus

My body is rebelling and my head begins to ache
I’m taking all the pressure for some other fools mistake

Chorus

I think of my possessions and the money that I owe
I think that I’m a coward and I wish it wasn’t so.

Chorus

And when the work is over we get drunk and let off steam We talk about rebellion and we talk about our dreams

– But there’s no way we’ll ever act upon the things we’ve spoken…
We’ve sacrificed our birthright for a promise daily broken

Day in day out what’s it all about? (Repeat x16)

Ned Ludd – Theo Simon

“Oh where are you going?” says Miller to Monger
“We may not tell you,” says Johnson to Judd
“We’re going t’t mill,” says Jack to our Jill,
“We’re going to the factory,” says little Ned Ludd

“And what will you do there?” says Miller to Monger
“D’ye swear to tell no one?” says Johnson to Judd
“We’ll break the machinery, improve the scenery,
Meet in the greenery after,” says Ludd

“And how will you break ‘ern?” says Miller to Monger
“Stick with us – we’ll show you,” says Johnson to Judd “With pikes and with hammers, with fire and spanners,
To teach ’em some manners,” says General Ludd.

“Cos and if we don’t break’em our lives they will take’em, Our craft, our cottage, our village as well –
No freedom or laughter for those who come after
But Servant and Master in a factory hell!”

So the door was kicked in and the frames were all broken!
And the owner was woken and raised the alarm,
And the yeoman came riding but we were in hiding,
The people providing to keep us from harm…

From Notts up to Lancashire, Yorkshire to Derbyshire,
1811 to 1813,
Ludd’s army enlisted, and the people resisted
The march of the more-money-making machine…

“How now shall we stop it?” says Owner to Ruler,
“With spies and with soldiers,” says Tory to Whig.
“We’ll hang every breaker and Luddite oath-taker, Transport trouble-makers,” – and that’s what they did.

Fourteen, hung on a beam,
Ugliest justice that you’ve ever seen,
Fifty in all, who took a long fall …
In the rising against the machines

And that made a way for the Age of Wage Slavery, Hungered and homeless and bowed to the boss
Whose factories killed them and crippled their children,
And all for the worship of profit and loss.

Some call it futility – they say “The future will be
What the engine of progress demands!”
But Ludd called humanity back to reality:
We weave our destiny with our own hands!

All hands that are ready to hold a line steady
To pull down the fences, or pull up a crop!
Unlock the laboratory, build a home in the tree-tops
Till the driving and never arriving has stopped – STOP!

And some call us “Vandals”, and some call us “Hooligans!” Some call us “Luddites!” and some “Rent-a-mob!”
But we’re standing up proud, and we’re shouting out loud, “For the sake of our family, let’s finish this job.”

And when the job’s done, And the long wars are over,
And we’ve all recovered the love in our blood,
Our ancestors’ voices will join our rejoicing
And sing to the memory of General Ludd,
And we’ll sing to the memory of General Ludd,
And we sing to the memory of General Ludd!