A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #

David Rovics lyrics : "Song For Ginger Goodwin"

He grew up in Yorkshire County
On the class war battle lines
From the age of 14 years

He was working in the mines
He saw the children dying
Of hunger and disease

His family was evicted
And he headed overseas


Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
Was where he landed for a while
Then he hopped a freight

For about three thousand miles
Ended up out west
By Nanaimo Bay

Where he worked the Number Five pit
And spent his final days


Let's remember the departed
And for us the things they gave
As we're gathered here

By Ginger Goodwin's grave

In England and in Canada

From the east out to the west
The miners lived and died
At capital's behest

Ginger saw the writing
That was covering the wall
One Big Union was the watchword

For the workers one and all

Ginger organized the miners

And they struck for better pay
And they struck the Dunsmuir Colleries
And fought to see the day

When the labor movement
Could say its work was done
With a world run by workers

For the good of everyone

Chorus


When the War to End All Wars came
He knew it was a lie

He said he wouldn't fight for the bosses
He wouldn't kill or die
He had blacklung from the mines

But they called him fit to go
So he hid out in the mountains
Out in the rain and snow


The cop who went to find him
This is what he said

I'm gonna bring him in
Whether that's alive or dead
The people gained a martyr

Who would never leave our side
And ten thousand workers marched
When they heard that Ginger died

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