Henry's Songbook

Chorus:
And it's down you go, down below, Jack
Where you never see the sky
And you're working in a dungeon
For a pound-a-week rise

Come all you colliers who work down the mine
From Scotland to South Wales, from Teesdale to Tyne
I'll sing you a song of the pound-a-week rise
And the men who were fooled by the government's lies

Down in nineteen-sixty, a few years ago
The mineworkers' leaders to Lord Robens did go
Sayin', We work very hard, every day we risk our lives
And we ask you here and now for a pound-a-week rise

And it's up spoke Lord Robens, and he made this decree
When the output rises then with you I will agree
To raise up all your wages and I'll give to you fair pay
For I was once a miner, and I worked hard in my day

So the miners they went home, they worked hard and well
Their lungs they filled with coal dust from the bosom o' hell
The output rose by fifteen, eighteen per cent and more
And when two years had passed and gone it rose above a score

Then the miners they went to get their hard-won prize
To ask Lord Robens for their pound-a-week rise
Robens wouldn't give a pound, he wouldn't give ten bob
He gave them seven-and-six and said, Get back to your job

So come all you colliers, take heed what I say
Don't believe the Coal Board when they say they'll give fair play
They'll tell you to work hard to make the output rise
You get pie in the sky instead of a one-pound rise

(as sung by Dick Gaughan)

[1974:] Written before 1964. - Pickford, a collier from Washington, Co. Durham, based this song on his own experiences in the negotiations with the National Coal Board in the mid-sixties. I first published it in 'Folk Music' magazine shortly afterwards. (Dallas, Toil 240)

[1975:] Robens, Alfred (Lord Robens of Woldingham). Born 1910. Chairman Vickers Ltd, since 1971. Director of the Bank of England since 1966, of Times Newspapers Ltd since 1967. Union of Distributive and Allied Workers' official 1935-1945. Labour M.P. for Wansbeck 1945-50, for Blyth 1950-60. Min[ister] of Labour and National Service 1951. Chairman of the National Coal Board 1961-1971, of which he published an autobiographical memoir, 'Ten Year Stint', in 1972. Member of N.E.D.C. [National Economic Development Council] since 1962. (Cecil King, Diary 1970-1974, p 401)