It was in the year of eighty-four shit really hit the fan
When Mac the Knife MacGregor, Maggie Thatcher's hatchet man
Said "Another twenty pits'll have to close to meet the Plan,
And we'll dump another twenty thousand miners."
Daddy, were you with the first of the first?
Did you tell the NCB to do its worst?
Or did you save your lily liver?
Sell the Union down the river?
Be a scab, a blackleg, one forever cursed?
When Arthur Scargill heard the news he cried "This yankee slob,
He's a gift from Cowboy Reagan and he's here to steal our jobs,
Do an axe job on the Union for the crummy Thatcher mob,
But we'll show him what it means to be a miner."
Daddy, did you man the picket line?
Did you fight to save the future of the mines?
Or did you take the wrong direction?
Did you squeal for police protection?
Did you let them see your indiarubber spine?
Well, the Yorkshire lads came out on strike and said "It's evident
The only way to stop MacGregor and the government
Is to bring the lads out everywhere from Scotland down to Kent,
And we'll show 'em what it means to be a miner."
Daddy, what did you do in the strike?
Did you stand there with your mates and join the fight?
Or did you show a yellow belly?
Spill your guts out on the telly?
Did you let the bosses fill you full of shite?
Some didn't heed the strike call, for guts and brains they lack
They're the colour of a primrose, though their hearts and legs are black
And their noses are all brown with being up the rear of Mac:
They're just a bunch of dirty blackleg miners.
Daddy, did you march at the head?
Did you stand there on the picket line unfed?
Or did you sell your mates to have
A fortnight on the Costa Brava?
Did you choose a two-week holiday instead?
Well, the battle it is joined at last, the forces they are massed,
On their side the press, the telly, all the weapons of their class,
Plus MacGregor and his blacklegs, but we'll never let 'em pass:
The NUM's the weapon of the miners.
Daddy, what did you do in the strike?
Did you scab and let your workmates wage the fight?
How the neighbours stood and booed us
Said we had the stink of Judas
Daddy, what did you do in the strike?