Get all 46 Joe Solo releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Farewell Hatfield Main, Sledgehammer Songs, Twenty From Twenty, Answer Machine/See You When I Get There, These Are My People, Fight The Good Fight Club Revisited, Upstairs At Park Street, Collected, and 38 more.
1. |
||||
Hang on in there, brother
Hang on in there, brother
Hang on in there, brother
I'm right here by your side
It's a long, long road to freedom
It's a long, long road to freedom
It's a long, long road to freedom
But I'm right here by your side
We'll walk this road together
We'll walk this road together
We'll walk this road together
I'm right here by your side
There's a shining light of hope now
There's a shining light of hope now
There's a shining light of hope now
And I'm right here by your side
Hang on in there, brother
Hang on in there, brother
Hang on in there, brother
I'm right here by your side
Words and Music
By
Joe Solo
|
||||
2. |
||||
There'll always be someone to tell you you're wrong
That you don't really know what you've got til it's gone
But if you know there's a wrong and a right
Come and help drag the dark kicking into the light
In the Fight The Good Fight Club now!
There'll always be someone afraid of a change
Been a slave for so long that they can't see the chains
But if life's got you tied up so tight
That it's taunting your days
And it's haunting your nights
Join the Fight The Good Fight Club now!
There'll always be someone to tell you you're wrong
But keep asking the questions and brother be strong
If you know there's a wrong and a right
Come and help drag the dark kicking into the light
In the Fight The Good Fight Club now!
Words and Music
By
Joe Solo
|
||||
3. |
Chains Made Of Gold
04:21
|
|||
I met an old man in the bar by the harbour
The bar by the harbour one late summer's eve
The seagulls were wheeling high over the houses
And he spoke in a whisper as chill as the breeze
He said:
"Liberty son, is whisky and women
And whisky and women are bought and they're sold
Slavery boy, is chains made of iron
And freedom's the same
But with chains made of gold"
I told that old man I had gold in my pocket
Gold to buy freedom, I'd walk I'd not crawl
But he laughed and he told me: "You know not of freedom
For freedom you buy, that's no freedom at all"
He said:
"Liberty son, is whisky and women
And whisky and women are bought and they're sold
Slavery boy, is chains made of iron
And freedom's the same
But with chains made of gold"
I left that old man in the bar by the harbour
He stared at the moonlight out over the wall
And I swear that he must have been half mad with whisky
The words that he spoke, they made no sense at all
He said:
"Liberty son, is whisky and women
And whisky and women are bought and they're sold
Slavery boy, is chains made of iron
And freedom's the same
But with chains made of gold"
Words and Music
By
Joe Solo
|
||||
4. |
||||
Me Dad he told me: "If you want a life
You never ever let them know when you hurt
For every man who rode the punches, son
You'll find a dozen lying down in the dirt
But you can't keep a good man
You can't keep a good man
Can't keep a good man down
You can't keep a good man
Can't keep a good man
Can't keep a good man down
Tears? You'll never have them if you've no regrets
You never let them gather dust on a shelf
You keep your eyes upon the road ahead
Cos what's behind you can look after itself
You can't keep a good man
You can't keep a good man
Can't keep a good man down
You can't keep a good man
Can't keep a good man
Can't keep a good man down
Every man that ever was has met his match
And all that matters is what happens then
If you want a live a life my son
You get back up and do it all again
You can't keep a good man
You can't keep a good man
Can't keep a good man down
You can't keep a good man
Can't keep a good man
Can't keep a good man down
Words and Music
By
Joe Solo
|
||||
5. |
||||
If I was a lowly orphan boy
And you were a lady fair
And I lay starving in the street
While you had bread to spare
Would you share that bread and care for me
Or leave me lying there
If I was a lowly orphan boy
And you were a lady fair?
If I was a lonely homeless man
Out begging in the street
And you the member of that flock
Who loudly, proudly bleet
Would you cast a penny, or a stone
Or stare down at your feet
If I was a lonely homeless man
Out begging in the street?
If I was a lowly stranger
On the road to Galillee
And you saw not the future
Nor you cared for history
Would you cross the road like all the rest
or turn and follow me
If I was a lowly stranger
On the road to Galillee?
|
||||
6. |
Ray
03:56
|
|||
Old Ray, well he was one in a million
He lived for 97 years in this town
Lost what family he had
But we all knew him as 'Dad'
And today we lay old Ray in the ground
I could sit and talk to Ray here for hours
Saying nothing much of anything profound
Just good company all night
On the barstool to my right
Today we lay old Ray in the ground
Let the bells ring out from St. Mary's
And echo all around the town
Get the message through
To everyone he knew
Today we lay old Ray in the ground
He'd always let you beat him at Poker
He'd fold a winning hand and buy a round
He were just the sort of bloke
Who'd rather hear than crack a joke
And today we lay old Ray in the ground
Let the bells ring out from St. Mary's
And echo all around the town
Get the message through
To everyone he knew
Today we lay old Ray in the ground
Words and Music
By
Joe Solo
|
||||
7. |
These Two Hands
03:40
|
|||
From the fire in the furnace
And the dark in the mines
To dawn at the dockyard gates
Queued up in lines
I could sweat at the foundry
Or harvest the land
It was me built this nation
With these two hands
I trawled the ocean
I wove and I spun
I lay the railways
I carried the gun
And I plundered the riches
From far foreign lands
It was me built this nation
With these two hands
These two hands
These two hands
It was me built this nation
With these two hands
Now I paid me taxes
For so I was told
They cared for the helpless
The young and the old
But they bailed out the whorehouse
Cos The Market demands
And left me no work here
For these two hands
These two hands
These two hands
They left me no work here
For these two hands
Now I queue for my Giro
To pay off my loans
I've got nowt in my pocket
And a chill in my bones
But you'll have to explain it
Cos I don't understand
How you rebuild a nation
Without these two hands
These two hands
These two hands
How do you rebuild a nation
Without these two hands?
Words and Music
By
Joe Solo
|
||||
8. |
||||
You're raking in the money
And you're taking us for fools
You ain't even got a stake in
Yet you're making all the rules
Go tell your trophy wife now
With her $1000 LA curls
She'll never find a rich man
When it's a Poor Man's World
They'll all be out to get you
When your system finally fails
They'll be queuing at your coffin
Just to hammer in the nails
Go tell your pretty little children
Your spoilt little boys and girls
You wouldn't want to be a rich man
Not in a Poor Man's World
See the poor are getting poorer
Being driven from their homes
While the rich are getting richer
Looking after their own
Go tell your little inner circle
When the flag's, when the flag's unfurled
You wouldn't want to be a rich man
Not in a Poor Man's World
Words and Music
By
Joe Solo
|
||||
9. |
Might Aswell
03:01
|
|||
The shut down all the shops on Main Street
And all the pubs on 'The Strip'
The banks deserted all the local branches
Like rats desert a sinking ship
But someone has to put it back together
And it's up to us now, don't you see?
That someone has to put it back together
And it might aswell be you and me
The local council's an extortion racket
It's all backhanders and lies
For every mugger in a hooded top
You'll find another in a shirt and a tie
But someone has to put it back together
And it's up to us now, don't you see?
That someone has to put it back together
And it might aswell be you and me
They shut the factory five years last Friday
And all the work went abroad
They knocked it down and built these luxury houses
That no-one round here can afford
The money-men they've upped and left this town now
And all the hope has gone
To them it's probably dirty bricks and mortar
But to me it's still where I belong
But someone has to put it back together
And it's up to us now, don't you see?
That someone has to put it back together
And it might aswell be you and me
Words and Music
By
Joe Solo
|
||||
10. |
Copper & Brass
05:51
|
|||
It was back in 84, son
That Bill come to me
And asked me for my Mary's hand
In matrimony
Now Billy was a good boy
And I was glad to agree
But I knew just what that look meant
Between Molly and me
See back in 84, son
I was a union man
I'd be down there on the picket line
A banner in my hand
So when Molly says:
"Oh Joe, I know we'll see this thing through
But when there's no food for the table
What are we going to do?"
I told her:
"I won't break no strike love
That wouldn't be right
And I know dark days are coming
But we've got to stand up and fight
And I'll tell you this for nothing
There's nothing in this world
That's going to stop me buying a wedding dress
For my little girl"
At dawn I'd take my kitbag
And my hammer down
To the big, bright shiny houses
On the rich side of town
See when a rich man's wife she nags him
For that bathroom suite
Well son he might aswell be stood there
Chucking cash in the street
You'd see them skips down by the roadside
Full of pipework and taps
Now that's rubbish to a rich man
But it's copper and brass
And what's rubbish to a rich man
With his diamonds and pearls
Was going to put that pretty wedding dress
On my little girl
I told her:
"I won't break no strike love
That wouldn't be right
And I know dark days are coming
But we've got to stand up and fight
And I'll tell you this for nothing
There's nothing in this world
That's going to stop me buying a wedding dress
For my little girl"
When the big day come
I swore I wouldn't cry
But I walked my Mary down the aisle
With tears in my eyes
When she smiled and whispered
"Thank you, dad"
And took Billy's hand
It was worth more than all their millions
To this Working Man
I told her:
"I won't break no strike love
That wouldn't be right
And I know dark days are coming
But we've got to stand up and fight
And I'll tell you this for nothing
There's nothing in this world
That's going to stop me buying a wedding dress
For my little girl"
|
||||
11. |
Better Times Will Come
03:23
|
|||
Better times will come
Better times will come
When these dark days are done
Better times will come
Let their house of cards come tumbling down
Build a new world up from the underground
Then better times will come
Let their empire's fall and fade away
We'll build tomorrow from today
Then better times will come
Better times will come
Better times will come
When these dark days are done
Better times will come
Behold the emperor's brand new clothes
Let lies and liars be exposed
Then better times will come
Let's vow to even up the score
So no rich man's above the law
Then better times will come
Better times will come
Better times will come
When these dark days are done
Better times will come
If money talks it makes no sound
It's us that make the world go round
And better times will come
Let's join the struggle while we may
For tomorrow's just a day away
And better times will come
Better times will come
Better times will come
When these dark days are done
Better times will come
Words and Music
By
Joe Solo
|
||||
12. |
||||
13. |
||||
14. |
Which Side Are You On?
02:53
|
|||
15. |
Joe Hill
02:43
|
Joe Solo Scarborough, UK
Joe Solo is an award-winning musician, writer, poet, activist, broadcaster and washing machine engineer from
Scarborough.
Live he has an ever growing reputation as both a performer and raconteur, being thought-provoking, comical and punch-the-air political often in the same breath.
He is not an artist you forget in a hurry.
... more
Streaming and Download help
Joe Solo recommends:
If you like Joe Solo, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp