Andrew, Ellen, James and John Lyrics

Me father was born on a stone flagged floor

In the middle of the war to end all wars

While his auld fella fought in the great advance

And died for a yard of mud in France

The telegram, I've got it yet

Said, It is with great regret

We hope these words some comfort bring

Yours in sympathy, the King

Andrew, Ellen, James and John

Your father's lying ower yon

Your mother's crying, Oh dear me

What are we all ganna de

When the war was over with the peace yet won

And the fighting man put down his gun

The land fit for heroes teemed

With a million men and an empty dream

Recession bit and jobs were hit

They closed the shipyard and the pit

The factories and the mills closed down

When the Great Depression came to town

Andrew, Ellen, James and John

Tell us where your childhood's gone

Your mother's crying, Oh dear me

What are we all ganna de

The the corridors of power rang

With tribute to the working man

But words come cheap and they're hard to bide

When you've lost your dignity and pride

Thirteen summers came and went

Their mother died, her life was spent

And the hand of fate reached out to greet

The woebegone on poverty street

Andrew, Ellen, James and John

It's time that you were moving on

Divvent leave it 'ower long

Get out before your chance is gone

It's true that when the die is cast

What will be will come to pass

What the reason or the rhyme

You can't turn back the hands of time

Never fret ye'll all be fine

Remember us in auld lang syne

You're bound for kin and a helping hand

In West Australia's far off land

So, Andrew, Ellen, James and John

With the ties that bind, stay together, be strong

There's a future now when there was none

Andrew, Ellen, James and John