The Beginning, The Struggle and The Reward (2011) Tom Edwards (1919) Lyrics (c) Steve Towson 2011. All rights reserved The Preacher and The Slave - Tom Edwards (1919) The Preacher and The Slave (Traditional written by Joe Hill) Long-haired preachers come out every night, Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right; But when asked how 'bout something to eat They will answer in voices so sweet Chorus You will eat, bye and bye, In that glorious land above the sky; Work and pray, live on hay, You'll get pie in the sky when you die And the Starvation Army, they play, And they sing and they clap and they pray, Till they get all your coin on the drum, Then they tell you when you're on the bum (Chorus) If you fight hard for children and wife Try to get something good in this life You're a sinner and bad man, they tell, When you die you will sure go to hell. (Chorus) Working folk of all countries, unite Side by side we for freedom will fight When the world and its wealth we have gained To the grafters we'll sing this refrain Chorus (modified) You will eat, bye and bye, When you've learned how to cook and how to fry; Chop some wood, 'twill do you good You'll eat pie in the sky when you die That's a lie Tom Edwards (1919) (written by Steve Towson) (c) (2011) In Fremantle there's a man I used to know his name was Tom Edwards a friend and close confidant but that all changed in 1919 we worked on the docks everyday loading their freight ships up oh but the times were getting hard for a man to earn a basic wage but that didn't matter in 1919 (chorus) So should the shareholders be made to pay when they use their influence to restrict the basic wage of working people trying to survive from day to day tell me what has changed since 1919 so we went on strike for us workers and union demands but tell me how can you fight against forces well at least we tried in 1919 (Chorus) So should our politicians be made to wear the blame when they use their power to inflict such harsh pain keeping men and women in a subservient state tell me what has changed since 1919 so we formed our lines arm in arm in solidarity and as the cops fixed their bayonets and singled out our delegates I saw him fall in 1919 So should our working people forget their history all of our struggles will have all been in vain for the 8 hour working day and racial and gender equality lest we forget 1919