Picket Line

LYRICS

Picket Line

Ma told me the old man ain’t coming home tonight
Got thrown in jail again trying to do what is right
So grab your winter coat and those muddy rubber boots
It’s time to go downtown and start marching with the troops
“But I don’t know them Momma, why should I even bother?”
She said, “Son, every one of them’s your sister and your brother”

And so it was I grew up on the picket line
So strap the cardboard on my chest and pass me a sign
Before I learned to string a full sentence together
I knew every word to Solidarity Forever

I had no pa on Father’s Day at the age of seven years
So we sent those cards up in a crate as we held back tears
They swore to take the train away, he turned to me to say,
“If we don’t act, they’ll never stop,” and he sat down in their way
Turned on the news before my eyes amidst the hospital strike
The coppers bash my father’s head in the street with all their might

And so it was I grew up on the picket line
So strap the cardboard on my chest and pass me a sign
Before I learned to string a full sentence together
I knew every word to Solidarity Forever

They tried to force him out the door, cause his values wouldn’t change
A true blooded trade union man in this new world is strange
But every worker on this island stands a better chance
Cause he would up and fight for them without a second glance
So I may fit my entire body in them shoes
But I never have to guess at what is right and what is true

And so it was I grew up on the picket line
So strap the cardboard on my chest and pass me a sign
Before I learned to string a full sentence together
I knew every word to Solidarity Forever

By VICTOR TOMICZEK

About Victor Tomiczek

Victor Tomiczek spent his childhood walking various picket lines around Cape Breton Island with his family. He started writing songs and performing them on his own and with his band Ladyslippers. Victor also plays banjo for the Tom Fun Orchestra. He’s been known to shoot bb guns at unsuspecting bottles.

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