Never Cross a Picket Line - Billy Bragg

Five hundred men sacked for refusing

To ever cross a picket line

The voices down the ages warning

Never cross a picket line

You must never cross a picket line

Two years gone by but still they never

Ever cross a picket line

With their wives and children they stand together

Never cross a picket line

You must never cross a picket line

Look away, look away

Look away out west to San Francisco

Look away, look away

Look away down south to Sydney Harbour

Where the dockers have organised

The world’s longest picket line

Technically this is an illegal strike

Never cross a picket line

But technically workers have no rights

Never cross a picket line

You must never cross a picket line

Oh, I want to live in a Brand New Britain

Never cross a picket line

Where workers rights are enshrined and written

Never cross a picket line

You must never cross a picket line

Look away, look away

Look away out west to San Diego

Look away, look away

Look away out east to far Osaka

Where the dockers have organised

The world’s longest picket line

The Tories are gone but there’s no improvement

Never cross a picket line

Now where is the might of the Labour movement

Never cross a picket line

You must never cross a picket line

Look away, look away

Look away down south to Auckland City

Look away, look away

Look away out west to old Vancouver

Where the dockers have organised

The world’s longest picket line

Where the dockers have realised

You must never cross a picket line