We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Never Be Defeated

by Joe Solo

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.
    Purchasable with gift card

      name your price

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    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. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      £35.25 GBP or more (25% OFF)

     

  • 'NEVER BE DEFEATED' ON CD
    Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    £5 from sale of this album will be donated to helping feed and house the homeless of Greater Manchester.

    CD album with 8-page booklet in shrink-wrapped jewel case. In stock and shipping next day.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Never Be Defeated via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

1.
My Grandad always told me It was coal that built this town It put food on the tables And kept the rent paid down My family all were miners And it filled me full of pride The first day that I walked on down The Pit Lane at their side They said Chorus: Coal Not Dole We're a mining town here Coal's our community Coal Not Dole We're a mining town here And without it, what are we? My Grandad always told me When hard times come along On our own we're nothing But the union makes us strong Chorus: Coal Not Dole We're a mining town here Coal's our community Coal Not Dole We're a mining town here And without it, what are we? The closures all are coming Votes cast, they call us out Mary nods and whispers: "What we haven't got, we do without." My Grandad always told me You'll know when it's your time To stand up and be counted And don't cross no picket line! Chorus: Coal Not Dole We're a mining town here Coal's our community Coal Not Dole We're a mining town here And without it, what are we?
2.
Turn that car around, lads Or is it: 'Sod you, Jack'? Cos your pit turns a profit Would you stab us in the back? 'One out, all out' wins it And it's ALL our jobs you'd save Cos you're not just digging coal here You're digging your own grave Show some solidarity Show some solidarity Show some solidarity And we win Turn that car around, lads That's not how it should be What happens to my brother Happens to me 'One out, all out' wins it So I'll ask you one more time Come out now and join us And don't cross this picket line Show some solidarity Show some solidarity Show some solidarity And we win
3.
I was 12 years old the last time But the laws have all moved on A striking family gets nothing And even less when it's gone She'll rip the heart from this country There's nothing more to this town Than bricks in the middle of nowhere And a pit that she's closing down Chorus: You can get six cups from a tea bag You can grow on a window sill We can eat together on Sundays To spread out the leccy bill There's nothing much in that bank book But I'll stretch it as far as I can I'll show her who's the 'Iron Lady' I'm standing by my man I always ask for the cheap cuts Like every house on the street It's half a pound of gristle For half an ounce of meat When the kids complain that they're hungry I tell em we'll eat when we win Then I give em what's on my plate Cos I'd rather starve than give in
4.
He said: "Where you going, lads?" "Is that right?" "I'm going to ask you to turn around. And if you're smart Then you'll take that advice And clear off back to your mining town. I have reason to believe You'll be causing a breach of the peace And I'll arrest you...." -and this is a beauty- "For obstructing me doing my duty." "No sir, picketing isn't a crime. At least it isn't one yet. Still I'm loving this overtime While you lot are drowning in debt. I have reason to believe You'll be causing a breach of the peace And I'll arrest you...." -and this is a beauty- "For obstructing me doing my duty." "You can see that you're outnumbered here So turn the car round and move it." I'm sure you've all seen the lads who said no, And have the stitches to prove it. "I have reason to believe You'll be causing a breach of the peace And I'll arrest you...." -and this is a beauty- "For obstructing me doing my duty." My job's to protect and to serve But only the deserving And my orders come right from the top As to who I'm protecting and serving. "I have reason to believe You'll be causing a breach of the peace And I'll arrest you...." -and this is a beauty- "For obstructing me doing my duty."
5.
Your Honour I swear Your Honour I swear That I'll never picket again My word is as good as a po-liceman's, sir I'm an honourable man like thi'sen When the union they ask if I'm in, 'No!' I'll say I won't climb in a car at the break of the day You won't catch me near pits down Nottingham way Cos I'll never picket again Your Honour I swear Your Honour I swear That I'll never picket again I'm a changed man now I promise you sir, I've learned two things here mi'sen In defending my job it's your peace that I breach And then there's the lesson a truncheon can teach That's to move fast enough to stay out of its reach And I'll never picket again Your Honour I swear Your Honour I swear That I'll never picket again My word is as good as a po-liceman's, sir I'm an honourable man like thi'sen It's the rich that inherit the earth not the meek You get laid-off in life turning the other cheek And just like I said when I stood here last week I'll never picket again
6.
Summer fields and riot shields One eight six eight four Horseback truncheon-wielding madman knocked me to the floor And two more taught me all I need To know about the law Summer fields and riot shields One eight six eight four TV crews make up the news And edit to proclaim Striking miners violent thugs Declared a national shame Bend a new agenda cos the truth Is just a game TV crews make up the news And we're a national shame Coppers sneering waving Ten pound notes up in the air Taunting lads still haunted by the Vision of despair The kids they left at breakfast tables Starving hungry stare Coppers sneering waving ten pound Notes up in the air Summer fields and riot shields One eight six eight four Eighteen stitches in my skull A message from the law That they will stop at nothing now And this is all-out war Summer fields and riot shields One eight six eight four
7.
It started out when he came home With stitches in his head They'd chased him down and they beat him And left him there for dead I wept and thought of my weakness Then saw strength in that, you see They can chase And catch And beat a man But they can't do that to me I went to work at the Welfare And made them pots of stew I rattled tins on the corners And I fought a tear or two But I laughed them back and I rallied For a fight that had to be They could chase And catch And beat my man But they can't do that to me They used to say us women Were right behind our men But down there on the picket We'd stand in front of them I'd sing them songs of freedom For all the world to see They could chase And catch And beat a man But they can't do that to me
8.
Word was three had broken So we waited in the lane To hassle us a scab bus From behind a copper chain Most of us in shorts and t-shirts Sat out in the sun When I heard Harry Harle behind me Say 'You better run'. Now Harry weren't no novice And I didn't like his tone On that day in August When the war came home In front a line of riot coppers Hammering their shields Behind the pit stood silent sentry Out across the fields Word was we should sit down Then they couldn't pick a fight But them who'd been at Orgreave Knew that something wasn't right We'd had our share of stitches Of bruised and broken bones Before that day in August When the war came home When their line broke I scarpered Faster than I thought I could But them down at the front were trapped And lay in their own blood I saw the ones they'd talked about No numbers on their shoulders In uniforms that didn't fit Who looked a lot like soldiers And I thought in that moment This weren't just a strike no more If she would stoop to send in men Who'd kill to win a war For days and nights the tyres burned And glass smashed in this town And that lamppost on the Pit Lane corner Someone knocked it down I watched Kate Adie lying And I turned round to my wife And said: "This is what it takes now If you want a job for life." To even make it this far We'd sold everything we owned But on that day in August The war came home
9.
Starve Us Back To Work (free) 03:06
By winter well the times were getting harder There'd been nothing left in larders for a while We were felling trees for fire wood And riddling tips for coal But there was always something there To make you smile Like the time we chased a chicken down the roadside Or the dockers who would 'lose' a crate or two Or the kids out there collecting on the corners Trying to scrape enough to see us through They were driving empty buses past the pickets Trying to make us think that they were full So we'd see the strike were breaking And we were all there for the taking Knowing it was red rag to a bull On the day we went a-raiding all them taties In a fog so thick I couldn't see me fist I ran into a brother Then another and another There was half of Yorkshire's miners in the mist It wasn't really stealing shoving taties in a sack Kind of just like borrowing but never paying back We were like a swarm of locusts And the farmer went bezerk But we wouldn't let em starve us back to work At Christmas time we did our best for everyone The whole world it turned in to Santa Claus Harry'd had his hand bust By an errant pair of handcuffs And the girls were sympathetic to the cause We sang and sang and sang 'You'll Never Walk Alone' And I remember feeling ten foot tall We swore when full of beer That we could take another year But some lads said the writing's on the wall It wasn't really stealing putting taties in a sack Cos governments they borrow loads and never pay it back And I didn't steal the future And then drive off in a Merc We just wouldn't let em starve us back to work
10.
Now Tony Clegg, he'd got the sack For something he dint do But he fought there at our shoulder And he saw the struggle through But when the union called us back They said, with heads held high There were few could walk past Tony Clegg And look him in the eye Now some of us were holding out Through anger, guilt and shame But the bosses had their win now And they had their list of names It was me who felt the scab now Like we'd left him high and dry There were few could walk past Tony Clegg And look him in the eye He said: "I began the strike a mining man, And ended on the dole. There were Aidy, Jeff and me left And on each it took its toll. When you'd been a striking miner, No job would take you on. And hard times just got harder, Until one day I was gone. I ran a pub in Windsor, Was a different world. And when I look back on the strike now, Well I'd do it all again. The devil, well I've seen her off, She played me for my soul. But you never bet against a man Who come from mining coal."
11.
When I march beneath that banner It's with a sense of pride My brothers and my sisters marching Right here at my side We're marching for the past, yes But it's for the future too They came for us-they'll come for you When I march beneath that banner I know where I belong It's with them that always had my back And struggled for so long To save our jobs, our homes, our families Tell me, what else could we do? They came for us-they'll come for you Fly the banner high Fly the banner high They can take away our trade But not the stand we made So come on, fly the banner high I learned some good things though I know beyond a doubt If everybody pulls together No-one goes without I know a little goes a long, long way And used is good as new They came for us-they'll come for you Fly the banner high Fly the banner high They can take away our trade But not the stand we made So come on, fly the banner high When I march beneath that banner It's with a sense of pride That we never bussed the Pit Lane Scabbing for the other side I know when fate it came a-calling We stood loyal, strong and true They came for us-they'll come for you Fly the banner high Fly the banner high They can take away our trade But not the stand we made So come on, fly the banner high
12.
13.
I stood above a working miner's door, and oh the shame! I was stolen in the dead of night but could not name The culprits. It were dark and so I can't be sure But it sounded just like Brian Daines and Leslie Moore Chorus: Na na na na naa na You can't catch me Na na na na naa na There's no law you see Na na na na naa na Making it a crime For a gnome to stop a scab Crossing a picket line You might have seen me on the telly I were quite the star Might have seen me down the Pit Club Sat up on the bar Might have seen me going hungry When the strike took hold But you'd never see me bussing in To mine their coal Na na na na naa na You can't catch me Na na na na naa na There's no law you see Na na na na naa na Making it a crime For a gnome to stop a scab Crossing a picket line I'm the Picketing Gnome of Hatfield Main I were with the lads and lasses down the old Pit Lane I sent a postcard home from everywhere I stepped off a plane I'm the Picketing Gnome of Hatfield Main I'd rather have a pint than I would a short And I'd rather be broke than I would be bought I'd rather soar like an eagle than crawl like a crab And I'd rather be a picket than a low down scab Na na na na naa na You can't catch me Na na na na naa na There's no law you see Na na na na naa na Making it a crime For a gnome to stop a scab Crossing a picket line
14.
15.
16.
One-Nil 01:32

about

****CD SOLD OUT BUT DOUBLE-CD 'NEVER BE DEFEATED: SPECIAL EDITION' IS AVAILABLE FROM: joesolothehatfieldbrigade.bandcamp.com/album/never-be-defeated-special-edition *****



These songs tell the story of the 1984-85 Miner's Strike through the eyes of the men and women of Stainforth and Dunscroft, South Yorkshire- The Hatfield Brigade.

They could not have been written without the help and support of the community and thanks must go to everyone down there for telling it like it is. Special thanks to Mick Lanaghan, Will Moore, Tony Clegg, Les Moore, Carol Mccardle, Harry Harle, Neil Nij Hughes, Pat Dignan, Sheena Moore and Dave Douglass for stories and speeches, loans of archive footage and documentaries, phone calls and email threads, and most of all for their comradeship and inspiration.

This album is dedicated to all striking miners and their families who gave up so much for so long and deserved better.

Please support Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign by visiting otjc.org.uk

credits

released October 6, 2015

Joe Solo

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

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

shows

contact / help

Contact Joe Solo

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Report this album or account

Joe Solo recommends:

If you like Joe Solo, you may also like: