Ralph McTell — The Enemy Within The Band

There was a time when the strike was on I thought that we might win Even after we'd been called The enemy within But the tide just turned against us It seems that blood and coal Were bound in hellish partnership To keep us from our goal To keep us from our goal There was a moment as we marched back With the colliery band in front Some said we'd been defeated But it felt as if we'd won All on account of the cheering The music and the crowd Back to the pit with tears and smiles Bloodied but unbowed Bloodied but unbowed There were months as the scars healed up Things didn't seem so bad Thursday nights in the band room And a few beers with the lads I told our lass it'd be all right As hope replaced despair And the band pumped reassurance Into the summer air Into the summer air On Thursdays now I go to town And spend most of the dole Loading the shopping trolley Instead of trucks with coal I see the lads in the band room But less of us meet there While the band breaks up all around us And nobody seems to care Nobody seems to care I've spent months now the music's gone Gazing at the mine The rust that creeps across the plant Like a dullness in the mind The gates are closed, the shops are shut Our very jobs they stole The band room's just a shell that keeps An echo of our soul An echo of our soul