Fred Applegate - Shipyard lyrics

[JACKIE] Ah me name is Jackie White I'm the foreman of the yard And ya don't mess with Jackie on this quayside I'm as hard as iron plate Woe betide you if you're late When we have to push a boat out on the spring tide Now they could die and hope for Heaven But they'd need to work their shift And I'd expect them all to back me to the hilt And if St. Peter at his gate were to ask them why they're late? Why, they'd tell him that they had to get a ship built [JACKIE & MEN] We build battleships and cruisers (ah) For her Majesty the Queen Super tankers for Ona**is, (ah) And all the cla**es in between We built the greatest shipping tonnage That the world has ever seen [JACKIE] And the only life we've known is in the shipyard Now, gentlemen [JACKIE & MEN] Steel in the stockyard Iron in the soul We'll conjure up a ship Where there used to be a hole But we don't know what we'll do If the yard gets sold [JACKIE & TOM DAWSON] For the only life we've known is in the shipyard [BILLY THOMPSON] Why are we makin' nice with this bloke if he's just out to shut us down? [JACKIE] We're trying to make him understand [BILLY] It's about bloody time he understood me then! My name is Billy Thompson I'm shop steward for the Union And me dream is proletarian revolution Comrades, brothers, fellow travelers and others Cla** struggle is the means of dialectic evolution And Das Kapital's me bible So the ruling cla** are liable And quoting Marx and Engels, it's entirely justifiable If the workers revolution here is [BILLY & DAVY HARRISON] Ever to be viable [BILLY] We become the rightful owners of the shipyard [JACKIE] Look, there's a mixture of emotions Hatred, gratitude and pride And you hate yourself for crying But that's difficult to hide For there's a sadness in the launching And ye worry what's ahead And that worry never leaves ye No, it keeps on nagging in your head So ye pray to God for orders But ye'll worry till ya dead... Until they bury your remains In the blacksmith's shed And the only life ye've known is in the shipyard [MEN] Steel in the stockyard Iron in the soul We'll conjure up a ship Where there used to be a hole [JACKIE] But we don't know what we'll do If the yard gets sold [MEN] For the only life we've known is in the shipyard [PEGGY] My name is Peggy White And I've nursed them through their injuries And their cuts and wounds I've bound Busted arms, and busted heads Broken backs and broken legs I'd often put them in a splint Before we put them in the ground And the fumes from all the welding Where the poison air is hung And the toxic radiation That's been blackening their tongues I'd be giving them an aspirin They'd be coughing up their lungs It was all they ever got here in this shipyard [FATHER O'BRIEN] Jackie. Far be it from me to intrude, but I'm wondering if I might say a few words [JACKIE] Of course, Father. The floor is yours [FATHER O'BRIEN] Well, me name is James O'Brien, it's from Ireland I was sent To be the pastor of this flock and your spiritual guide I might suggest to all of you heathens What you might give up for Lent But ye won't give up your dignity Ye can't give up your pride And ye can't give up your history, ye can't give up the ghost For on the last day of judgment, a heavenly host Will descend on this community to separate the just From the damned and the wicked and the ones ye couldn't trust And there are times when the good Lord might ask for sacrifice But it's the devil that be tempting ye, even if he's paid you twice For their souls cannot be purchased as they haven't got a price And they won't give up [COMPANY] No, we won't give up, we won't give up your/our lives here in the shipyard [FATHER O'BRIEN] Mind you, I once gave up the drinking, was it 1963? It seems as though sobriety was not the thing for me It was the worst three hours I ever hope to see [COMPANY] Steel in the stockyard Iron in the soul We'll conjure up a ship Where there used to be a hole [JACKIE] And the ship sets sail and the tail gets told And the only life we've known is in the shipyard [COMPANY] Steel in the stockyard Iron in the soul We'll get the ba*tard finished Or we'll end up on the dole [JACKIE] But we [COMPANY] Never minded working In the rain and the cold Shootin' rivets in the bulkheads Welding in the hold [JACKIE] But we don't know what we'll do If the yard gets sold The only [COMPANY] Life we've ever known is in the shipyard