"Shipyard" lyrics

Ah, me name is Jackie White and I'm foreman of the yard
And ye don't mess with Jackie on this quayside
Why I'm as hard as iron plate, woe betide ye if yr late
When we have to push the boat out on a spring tide
Now ye could die and hope for Heaven, but ye'd need to work your shift
And I'd expect ye's all to back us to the hilt
And if St. Peter at his gate were to ask ye why yr late
Why you'd tell him that ye had to get a ship built

We built battleships and cruisers for Her Majesty the Queen
Super tankers for Onassis, and all the classes in between
We built the greatest shipping tonnage that the world has ever seen
And the only life we've known is in the shipyard

All the platers and the welders, and the boiler-making crews
When they see that bugger finished on the slipway
All the hardship's soon forgot and we'll cheer as like as not
And the bairns'll wave their Union Jacks all day

It's a patriotic scene, all that's missing is the Queen
But she said she couldn't make it of a Tuesday
Then something wells up here inside, and you could take it in yr stride
But you wonder if you'll see another payday

For there's a mixture of emotions, hatred, gratitude and pride
And you hate yourself for crying but it's difficult to hide
For there's a sadness in the leaving and ye worry what's ahead
And that worry never leaves ye, keeps on nagging in yr head
And so ye pray to God for orders, but ye'll worry till yr dead
Until they bury your remains in the blacksmith's shed
And the only life ye've known is in the shipyard

Steel in the stockyard
Iron in the soul
We'll conjure up a ship where there used to be a hole
And I don't know what we'll do if this yard gets sold
For the only life we've known is in the shipyard

My name is Tommy Thompson
I'm shop steward for the Union
Me dream is proletarian revolution
Comrades, brothers, fellow travelers and others
Class struggle is the means of dialectic evolution
Das Kapital's me bible
So the ruling class are liable
And quoting Marx and Engels, it's entirely justifiable
If the workers' revolution here is ever to be viable

We become the rightful owners of the shipyard

So it's a one-day stoppage, or an overtime ban
Or a work to rule for the Five-Year Plan
'Til the means of production are safely in our hands
And we become the rightful owners of this shipyard

I'm not saying it won't be hard if the boss hands us me cards
When they try to close us down like other shipyards
And if industrial action only helps the competition
As I've heard the bosses bleating from their usual position
And I stand accused of anarchy, disruption and sedition

Well ye'll never knock us down
You reactionary clowns!
When it's time for occupation of the shipyard

My name is Peggy White
And I've nursed your through your injuries
And your cuts and wounds I've bound
Busted arms, and busted heads
Broken backs and broken legs
I'd sooner put you in a splint
Than have them put you in the ground
And the fumes from all the welding
Where the poison air is hung
And the toxic radiation
That's been blackening your tongue
I could give yous all an aspirin
While you're coughing up your lungs
But it's all you'll ever get here in the shipyard

Ah, me name is Davy Harrison, I like a drink or two
You could ask me when it started but I haven't got a clue
I'm never sad or miserable I'm never ever blue
And I'll still be up tomorrow for the shipyard

I drink meself into a stupor and I wake up with two heeds
And then the missus starts complaining about all me drunken deeds
Like when I got the train to Sunderland but found meself in Leeds
And I had to get up early for the shipyard

I once gave up the drinking. Was it 1963?
But it seems as if sobriety was not the thing for me
It was the worst three hours I ever hope to see

Steel in the stockyard
Iron in the soul
We'll conjure up a ship
Where there used to be a hole

And the ship sets sail and the tale gets told
And the only life I've known is in the shipyard

Steel in the stockyard
Iron in the soul
We'll get the bastard finished
Or we'll end up on the dole

And we don't know what we'll do
If the yard gets sold
The only life we've ever known is in the shipyard