Tom Barclay's Tale ft. Steve Cartwright & Dave Jagger Lyrics

The Ballad of Tom Barclay

When first I came into this town

From across the Irish Sea

A squalid hovel for a home

Was my first memory

From starvation put to flight

No choice but emigration

But we found no welcome here

Among this English nation

Down in the dark in Abbey Street

That was where I first found my feet

Life was nought but a bag of bones

Dodging all those sticks and stones

Cap in hand and hand to mouth

Waiting for the day when the money ran out

Trying to learn the rules of the game

Tom Barclay is my name

Hounded by the Sassenach kids

Many a battle we did fight

Mother took comfort in devotion

Dad came home drunk on a Friday night

Early on I did decide

That I would learn to read and write

And soon me eyes were opened wide

As I began to see the light

Down in the dark in Abbey Street

I threw myself into bettering

The lives of the working class

Though down at the free and easy

It's oh so easy to just down a glass

Things they never will get better

If you just give in to that call

Joined the Labour Party

To fight for a better life for all