A folk song query going back many years.

[Xenophon PCDGS]

In the 1960s, when our folk group at Manchester University were still performing, we recall a song about the Lancashire mines and cotton mills period which had a chorus of....

"We've been on strike for ten per cent,
We're not downhearted yet,
We've been on strike for ten per cent
And ten per cent we'll get"

Can anyone shed light on who would have sang this folk song and where the full lyrics may be found.

Sad to relate, I am now the sole living member of that folk group at the age of 77.

 

[SargeNpton]

Here's a link to the lyrics....

Historical Folk - Ten Per Cent Testo | LetsSingIt Testo

Testo di TEN PER CENT di Historical Folk: Come Mary put me pit clogs by, From t'jacket shake the dust, We've gone on strike for ten per cent, We'll get it ...

www.letssingit.com

 

[nlogax]

And here's a version on YouTube.

A short spree of googling suggests Mike Harding may have covered this one in the past. In 2005 Chumbawumba modified some of the chorus and incorporated it into 'The Land of Do What You're Told'.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Many thanks for both those responses. I glad that I correctly remembered the chorus, as it was a very long time ago that I heard it sung, which I think would have been in the Ring O'Bells folk club in Middleton. Mike Harding was in the same year group as me at St Bede's College, Whalley Range, Manchester, that started there in the autumn term in 1956. I can well imagine that the Oldham Tinkers may well have once sung it.