1919 (It Was The Year...)
Of all the glorious events
that Winnipeg has seen
There’s nothing like the general strike of year 1919
We all revere its memory, no matter what our views
It was the year that Winnipeg made the national news!
There’s a pride in every ‘Pegger’s heart on the 15th day of May
When we feel so bold and radical to support the 8-hour day
Though come next week, we’ll grumble when we pay our union dues
It was the year that Winnipeg made the national news!
Oh, the people of the Peg were overworked and underpaid
So they started marching in the streets, like the Santa Claus Parade
But if today such conduct should be publicly displayed
We’d never shoot the strike brigade
We’d only have them pepper-sprayed…
Our city still is known for its impoverished underclass
But now we march in baby steps, or we don’t get off our ass
We all could fight injustice, but we’d really rather snooze
Since the year that Winnipeg made the national news
(key change)
We’ve got a made-in-Manitoba mix of apathy and fear
And a credo of, “That’s not the way that we do things around here”
But just because we’re far from red, don’t mean we’ll sing the blues
‘Cause the good taxpaying prairie hicks
Can dip a toe in politics
For the year that Winnipeg made the national news
And celebrate triumphantly
That it’s almost been a century
Since the year that Winnipeg made the national news!
© Adi Sara Kreindler, 2009
Recording coming soon! (Style - ragtime.)