“Longshoreman's Strike (The Poor Man's Family)”

Description

"I am a simple lab'ring man / And I work along the shores / For to keep the hungry wolves away / From the poor longshoreman's door." The singer demands fair pay for his work. He complains that foreigners get the jobs while local people starve

Supplemental text

Longshoreman's Strike (The Poor Man's Family)
  Partial text(s)

          *** A ***

Longshoreman's Strike

From Anne Warner, Traditional American Folk Songs from the Anne &
Frank Warner Collection, #28, pp, 100-101. From the singing of
"Yankee" John Galusha of New York State. Collected 1941.

I am a simple lab'ring man,
And I work along the shores.
For to keep the hungry wolves away
From the poor longshoreman's door.
I toil all day long in the broiling sun
On the ships that come in from the sea,
From early light until late at night
For the poor man's family.

  Chorus
Then it's give us good par for every day,
For that's all we ask of thee.
For our cause is right, and we're out on a strike
For the poor man's family.

(1 additional stanza)

Notes

For background on Harrigan and Braham, see the notes to "Babies on Our Block." - RBW

Historical references

• 1875 - Longshoreman's strike that inspired this song. Most of the strikers were Irish immigrants

Cross references

• cf. "Last Winter Was a Hard One" (theme)

References

1. FSCatskills 377, "The Poor Man's Family" (1 text, 1 tune)
2. Warner 28, "Longshoreman's Strike" (1 text, 1 tune)
3. Dean, pp. 82-83, "Long Shoreman's Strike" (1 text)
4. Greenway-AFP, p. 236, "Longshoreman's Strike" (1 text)
5. ST FSC101 (Partial)
6. Roud #7461
7. BI, FSC101