Pete Seeger - Mrs. Clara Sullivan's Letter lyrics

Dear Mister Editor, if you choose Please send me a copy of the labor news; I've got a son in the infantry And he'd be mighty glad to see That someone, somewhere, now and then Thinks about the lives of the mining men In Perry County In Perry County and thereabout We miners simply had to go out It was long hours, substandard pay Then they took our contract away Fourteen months is a mighty long time To face the goons on the picket line In Perry County I'm twenty-six years a miner's wife There's nothing harder than a miner's life But there's no better man than a mining man Couldn't find better in all this land The deal they get is a rotten deal Mountain greens and gravy meal In Perry County We live in barns that the rain comes in While operators live high as sin Ride Cadillac cars and drink like a fool While our kids lack clothes to go to school Sheriff Combs he has it fine He runs the law and owns a mine In Perry County What operator would go dig coal For even fifty a day on the mine pay-roll! Why, after work my man comes in With his wet clothes frozen to his skin Been digging coal so the world can run And operators can have their fun In Perry County When folks sent money to the Hazard Press To help the strikers in distress They gave that money, yours and mine To the scabs who crossed the picket line And the state militia and F.B.I Just look on while miners die In Perry County I believe the truth will out some day That we're fighting for jobs at decent pay We're just tired of doing without And that's what the strike is all about And it helps to know that folks like you Are telling the story straight and true About Perry County