Canvassing for double glazing
One of the worst jobs I'd had
Then over a pint the boss explained
Why he thought it wasn't so bad.
He was, he said a West Riding boy
There you expected to go down the pit
If you were an average working man
No choice really that was just about it.
If you think this job is hard, he said
You should try mining for coal.
Every journey to the face felt like
I was losing part of my very soul.
Then came the era of Thatcher
Dedicated to breaking worker power
A clash of engineered confrontation
When negotiation turned sour.
A strike that ground on and on
For every miner knew the cost
Decimation of our industry if our
Commitment faltered and we lost.
For the whole time I stuck it out
But I lost my very best friend
A family man starved back to work
Just before our strike would end
That man is an outcast
Still to this very day
Maybe a hard price to suffer
But that's the miners way
I stood firm at Orgreave
And then we all took flight
As Mounted police charged in
And that's when we lost our fight
Our action failed, pits closed
An act of mindless industrial rape
And I was flung out on the dole
And finally made my escape.
No more forced casual banter
No more nervous laughs
Waiting there in the cage
To be wound down the shafts
Canvassing may not be the best
But when I'm working out there
I think of hours spent down the pit
Then I enjoy this clean fresh air.
But I just couldn't stick that job
So my ordeal came to an end
We had a farewell pint my last day
And I believe we parted as friends
