John Kirkpatrick
John Kirkpatrick: https://towerseyfestival.bandcamp.com/track/on-the-road-to-freedom
On the fifteenth day of August (In Eighteen Hundred and Forty-Two)
The people are out a-marching And you’d be marching too
Marching into Hanley town To show we shan’t be beaten down
Chase the masters round and round
Refrain:
On the road to freedom
Oh the police will not contain us (in 1842)
No righteous soul will blame us For they’d be marching too
The infantrymen are going to try We’ll leave them standing wondering why
We can’t be stopped, we’re flying so high
Oh there’s more of us marching with every stride (in 1842)
The masters’ doors we’ll fling them wide And all go marching through
By Shelton Bridge we’ll carry along On to Stoke we’ll take our song
And now we’re marching thousand strong
We who are the labouring poor (in 1842)
Come hammering at the rich man’s door As we go marching through
It’s time they gave a decent share Time they saw the load we bear
Time we showed them how to care
Oh we’re marching away from slavery (in 1842)
From hunger and from poverty And you’d be marching too
We’ll smash the shackles that hold us down Smash the chains where we’ve been bound
Smash the masters too the ground
On the fifteenth day of August (in 1842)
The people are out a-marching And you’d be marching too
The taste of victory in the air The soldiers only stand and stare
On the road to Burslem Square