Union Songs

Better Times

A song by Miguel Heatwole©Miguel Heatwole 2000

There are better times comin' if you don't pay any tax
On the profits that your companies make off their workers' backs
Your friends are influential and they can get things done
So don't forget that big donation to the campaign fund

Better times, better times,
Better times are on their way that's what politicians say
So if you've got one in your pocket better times are here to stay

There are better times comin' 'cause your pay is gonna drop
And this will bring employment ‘though you can't afford to shop
When demand for goods and services has fallen through the floor
Employers won't be laying off their workers anymore

Better times, better times,
Better times are on their way if you take a cut in pay
And never join a union just do what your bosses say

There are better times comin' 'cause the market isn’t slow
So if 'share' to you means only what's in your portfolio
Invest and speculate, strip assets, make the prices soar
Make a killing, oil-drilling, or when there is a war

Better times, better times
Better times are on their way when the stockmarket you play
The only way to win is when you make the people pay

There are better times comin'. If it troubles you to think
Just say poverty's the fault of people living on the brink
Why not tune in to talkback? You'll get all the help you need
To blame the poor on welfare not the ruling class’s greed

Better times, better times
Better times are on their way just ring up and have your say
If the facts are not much use to you, you’re thinking the right way

I want to live in hard times the way it was before
In the bad old days when unions flexed their muscles for the poor
When the public good was not for sale, and education free
When we lived in our society not their economy

Hard times, Hard times
Come on, let the hard times roll, let's see justice take its toll
There'll be hard times for the wealthy when we take back what they stole
"Let us pause in life’s pleasures and count its many tears"
The weeping of the wealthy is music to my soul!

Notes

Many thanks to Miguel Heatwole for permission to add this song to the Union Songs collection

See more of Miguel Heatwole's work in this collection.

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