Greedy Fingers – Alun Parry by alunparry

Bolton UNISON commissioned me to write a song supporting the strikes about to take place on November 30th.

So here it is. Enjoy! It’s called Greedy Fingers.

Click here to download Greedy Fingers from iTunes

There is no crisis. Only capitalism is in crisis, but we don’t need capitalism. There is no crisis with regard to anything real. All attempts to worsen our living standards are purely arbitrary. Good luck on November 30th.

This track will be available as a single on iTunes over the next couple of days.

Big thanks to Barry Briercliffe for recording the track and being an all round good egg as ever.

Photo Credit: Bridgid Dineen



Lyrics

I know a man who tried to rob a bank but he did fail
They dragged him to the courthouse and they sent him off to jail
When people rob the banks they are securely locked away
When bankers rob the people they are given extra pay

Get your greedy fingers off the workers pay
Your greedy thieving fingers off the workers pay
Tens and tens of thousands are on strike today
(sayin’) Get your greedy fingers off the workers pay

There’s not really a crisis no matter what they say
There are no less factories than we had yesterday
The same amount of workers, same stuff to make things from
So why do they keep telling us how bad things have become

Get your greedy fingers off the workers pay
Your greedy thieving fingers off the workers pay
Tens and tens of thousands are on strike today
(sayin’) Get your greedy fingers off the workers pay

No asteroid has struck the earth as far as we all know
There is no global drought that means that things no longer grow
There is no epidemic meaning workers are not fit
How can this be a crisis when nothing’s changed a bit

Get your greedy fingers off the workers pay
Your greedy thieving fingers off the workers pay
Tens and tens of thousands are on strike today
(sayin’) Get your greedy fingers off the workers pay

Our wealth is only measured by the things we can create
It’s only rich men’s orders that have shut the factory gate
We have the same ability to make stuff as before
Let’s keep on making things we need and not make people poor

Get your greedy fingers off the workers pay
Your greedy thieving fingers off the workers pay
Tens and tens of thousands are on strike today
(sayin’) Get your greedy fingers off the workers pay

So I am here to tell you of the truth that they conceal
The problem’s with their system not with anything that’s real
Let’s keep our jobs and pensions, there’s a fairer world to choose
The system is the problem, it’s the system we should lose

Get your greedy fingers off the workers pay
Your greedy thieving fingers off the workers pay
Tens and tens of thousands are on strike today
(sayin’) Get your greedy fingers off the workers pay

This is a quick post to tell you to tune in to BBC Radio Merseyside on Sunday night/Monday morning.

I’m being played on Roger Hill’s Pure Musical Sensations, his alternative music show.

The show starts at midnight and runs through until 2am.

This month Roger has been highlighting radical music as part of City of Radicals.

Tune in to hear my track and the rest of his fab show.

Letter To Kathleen Demo by alunparry

Robert Tressell, the author of Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, died in Liverpool a hundred years ago.

This song, Letter To Kathleen, is my response to an email I received from Kate Richardson.

Kate is Vice President and human dynamo of the Manchester Trades Council.

Her email contained Robert’s last letter to his daughter Kathleen, which I’ve copied at the foot of this post.

Robert raised Kathleen alone and they were especially close. When Robert had to leave her with her aunt while he attempted to raise the money in Liverpool for two tickets to Canada, it caused him great pain to be parted from Kathleen.

Neither of them knew the parting would be forever.

Kate recently contacted me asking me for a more usable version of the song as she is addressing a Tressell conference in his home town of Hastings on 20 September. She only had the live version that I sung at Stuart Borthwick’s lecture on Tressell in April and the sound quality was iffy.

So I’ve done a rough demo of Letter To Kathleen and I thought I’d let you have a listen too.

And now the letter itself:

August 1910

I feel so unhappy being away from you and miss you more than I can say. It makes me very miserable to think of all you used to do for me and of how unkind and irritable I often was in return and although I know that you always made allowances for the worry that caused me to be like that, I cannot forgive myself and try in vain to comfort myself with the thought that you know I never meant to be unkind and that you know I love you more than anything else in the world.

I have thought of nothing but you since I lost sight of you on the platform and the world seems a dreary place to me because you are not here. I cannot write down here all that I feel and want to say to you but if it were true that circumstances compelled us to live apart from each other permanently – then I would much prefer not to continue to live at all….

Je vous aime toujours

Dad

Letter To Kathleen Demo by alunparry

When people ask if I want to be famous, my reply is always the same.

“Bloody hell no! But I’d love the songs to be.”

That’s why I’m always delighted when other singers perform my songs.

My song The Dirty Thirty will be performed at PCS Conference in Brighton on Monday 16th May by singer/guitarist Peter Lucas.

If you fancy going along, all money raised goes to the hardship fund, and it’s just £1 to get in.

The fun starts at 8pm and there’s a quiz and a 2 o’clock bar as well as the music.

It all takes place at Western Front, 11 Cranbourne Street, Brighton. (It’s next to the main shopping area.)

Check out film maker Sam Meech’s interesting short film documenting the March 26th demo in London.

If, like me, you were on that demo then you might even spot yourself.

In particular you might recognise the song that forms the soundtrack of the first half of the film. Hehehe.