Sixteen Coppers (Poor Man's Work Song)
[C minor - C (LH) Eb (RH)]
Rise as the dawn trickles from Salsabil
Ya stifle a yawn, ‘pproach the fact’ry or mill
Eight days a week you work for seven hours straight,
Ya punch in early and you’re headin’ home late.
Sixteen coppers is two coppers a day,
Sixty-four shifts for a moonpath of pay,
A Poor Man is weary but a Poor Man is loyal
He won’t take it easy cos he values the toil. You suffer the slog, to see the cotton get sown,
Work like a dog, and work your hands to the bone,
Eight days a week you work eleven hours straight,
Ya punch in early and you’re headin’ home late.
Sixteen coppers, that’s what you get
Don’t try to count it out by the brow of your sweat
A Poor Man is simple but a Poor Man ain’t dumb
It all adds up when the rich men come. You get born to a family with a debt to be paid,
You take it on calmly or it takes you on ‘fraid,
Eight days a week you’re workin’ sixteen hours straight,
Ya punch in early and you’re headin’ home late.
Sixteen coppers is enough to get by
To support a family so that they don’t die
A Poor Man must marry, take a wife as his prize
To put it humbly, he should unionise. Late night you clock out and the wages get delt,
A rest and Stout and they speed up the belt,
Ya know if we could we’d work a 24/8,
Ya punch in early and you’re headin’ home late.
CSixteen Abcoppers is that Ebmonthly pay Ccheque
EbDon't try to Abrise, there’s a Fboot on your Gneck.
The Poor Man won’t squabble cos the Poor Man will learn
To disdain the rabble so the Loyal Shall Earn.
Rise as the dawn trickles from Salsabil
Ya stifle a yawn, ‘pproach the fact’ry or mill
Eight days a week you work for seven hours straight,
Ya punch in early and you’re headin’ home late.
Sixteen coppers is two coppers a day,
Sixty-four shifts for a moonpath of pay,
A Poor Man is weary but a Poor Man is loyal
He won’t take it easy cos he values the toil. You suffer the slog, to see the cotton get sown,
Work like a dog, and work your hands to the bone,
Eight days a week you work eleven hours straight,
Ya punch in early and you’re headin’ home late.
Sixteen coppers, that’s what you get
Don’t try to count it out by the brow of your sweat
A Poor Man is simple but a Poor Man ain’t dumb
It all adds up when the rich men come. You get born to a family with a debt to be paid,
You take it on calmly or it takes you on ‘fraid,
Eight days a week you’re workin’ sixteen hours straight,
Ya punch in early and you’re headin’ home late.
Sixteen coppers is enough to get by
To support a family so that they don’t die
A Poor Man must marry, take a wife as his prize
To put it humbly, he should unionise. Late night you clock out and the wages get delt,
A rest and Stout and they speed up the belt,
Ya know if we could we’d work a 24/8,
Ya punch in early and you’re headin’ home late.
CSixteen Abcoppers is that Ebmonthly pay Ccheque
EbDon't try to Abrise, there’s a Fboot on your Gneck.
The Poor Man won’t squabble cos the Poor Man will learn
To disdain the rabble so the Loyal Shall Earn.
