Daddy, What Did You Do In The Strike? by Ewan MacColl

Album: Daddy, What did you do in the strike? (1984)

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"Daddy, What Did You Do In The Strike?" is about the UK miners' strike that ran from March 1984 to February 1985. The title is a play on the phrase, "Daddy, What Did You Do in the Great War?" which was used in the Britain on posters to motivate/shame men into enlisting into the army during what would later be known as World War I.

The song is written from the perspective of a child asking his father if he stood with his striking miners or crossed the picket lines in betrayal. It has since been adapted for other strikes in other industries.
This song dovetails with the enigmatic John Lees composition "The Great 1974 Mining Disaster." In 1974, the protagonists were Prime Minister Edward Heath and National Union of Miners leader Joe Gormley. By the time of the 1984-1985 strike, Edward Heath had been replaced as leader of the Conservatives by Margaret Thatcher, who steered the party back to power, becoming Britain's first woman Prime Minister. In March 1982, the moderate Gormley was succeeded by Arthur Scargill, who is mentioned in the lyrics.
"Daddy, What Did You Do In The Strike?" is very much in favor of the miners, referring to strike breakers as blackleg, scab, scum or worse. According to the American performer Andy Blue, who has covered the song, MacColl said 25,000 cassettes of "Daddy, What Did You Do In The Strike?" had been handed out on the picket lines. >>>
Suggestion credit:
Alexander Baron - London, England

Comments: 3

Jim from BelfastHi, these lyrics are not right. Listen to the song and compare them. An accurate set is available from the YouTube version of this song: https://youtu.be/wbSoLqySCbc
London Celtic Punks from London, EnglandGod bless Ewan MacColl an inspiration to many and still inspiring people now. The only good scab is a dead one if you ask me...
The Scab
A Poem by: Jack London (1876-1916)
After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad, and the vampire, he had some awful substance left with which he made a scab.

A scab is a two-legged animal with a corkscrew soul, a water brain, a combination backbone of jelly and glue. Where others have hearts, he carries a tumor of rotten principles.

When a scab comes down the street, men turn their backs and angels weep in heaven, and the devil shuts the gates of hell to keep him out.

No man (or woman) has a right to scab so long as there is a pool of water to drown his carcass in, or a rope long enough to hang his body with. Judas was a gentleman compared with a scab. For betraying his master, he had character enough to hang himself. A scab has not.

Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Judas sold his Savior for thirty pieces of silver. Benedict Arnold sold his country for a promise of a commission in the British army. The scab sells his birthright, country, his wife, his children and his fellowmen for an unfulfilled promise from his employer.

Esau was a traitor to himself; Judas was a traitor to his God; Benedict Arnold was a traitor to his country; a scab is a traitor to his God, his country, his family and his class.
Maggiethatcher from Sheffield, United KingdomBrilliant! I've compiled a list of songs featuring margaret Thatcher or the strike at http://www.maggiethatcher.com/buymusic.html and particularly like 'The Maggie Thatcher Experience' with 'The Lady's not for Burning (Piss anthem) - I've recreated the list here:
Bernstein (f.k.a. Dan Bern) - Children of the Cold War
Bérurier Noir - Et Hop
Billy Bragg - Thatcherites
Braintax - Decade on Panorama
Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine - Evil
Conflict - These Colours Don't Run
Conflict - Neither Is This
Conflict - To Whom It May Concern
Corries - Who'll Take The Ball from Maggie Thatcher?
Crass - Nineteen Eighty Bore
Crass - Sucks
David Diamond - Some Talk Of Ronald Reagan
Deborah Holland - Pinochet and Margaret Thatcher
Thomas Dolby - May The Cube Be With You
Doug Anthony All Stars - If You're Happy 2
Doug Anthony All Stars - The Sun
Martin Carthy - Company Policy
Elvis Costello - Tramp The Dirt Down
Exploited - Don't Pay The Poll Tax
Dick Gaughan - Ballad of '84 and others, indirectly
Godfathers - Birth, School, Work, Death
Hefner - The Day That Thatcher Dies
Human League - The World Before Last
Ewan MacColl - Daddy, What Did You Do In The Strike?
Ewan MacColl - The Media and others, indirectly.
The Maggie Thatcher Experience - Thatcher's death anthem
The Maggie Thatcher Experience - The Lady's not for Burning (Piss anthem)
Manic Street Preachers - If White America Told The Truth For One Day Its World Would Fall Apart
Morrissey - Margaret On The Guillotine
Aimee Mann - You're With Stupid Now
Not Sensibles - I'm In Love With Margaret Thatcher
Pink Floyd - The Post War Dream
Pink Floyd - Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert
Pink Floyd - The Fletcher Memorial Home
Pink Floyd - Not Now John
Renaud - Madame Thatcher
Roger Waters - Four Minutes
Roger Waters - The Story
Roy Harper - Winds Of Change
Sinéad O'Connor - Black Boys On Mopeds
Space - No-One Understands
Spailpin - The Maggie Thatcher Song
Trust - Misere

Games featuring Thatcher;
Whack-a-miner (Ironic parody) from http://www.milksnatcher.com
The lady's not for Burning from http://www.maggiethatcher.com/burning.html
Milk Snatcher game from http://www.maggiethatcher.com/milk.html

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