CLARA SULLIVAN'S LETTER
(learned from Pete Seeger album; written by Malvina Reynolds)
Dear Mr. 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 somebody somewhere now and then
Thinks about the lives of the mining men
In Perry County.
I'm 26 years a miner's wife,
There's nothing harder than a miner's life,
But there's no better man than a minin' man,
You couldn't find better in all this land.
The deal they get is a rotten deal,
Mountain greens and gravy meal,
In Perry County.
In Perry County and hereabout
The miners simply have to go out
And work long hours at substandard pay,
And then they took our contract away,
Now fourteen months is a mighty long time
To face the goons on the picket line,
In Perry County.
We live in shacks that the rain comes in,
While the operators live high as sin,
Drive Cadillac cars and drink like a fool,
While our kids lack clothes to go to school.
Sheriff Holmes, he has it fine,
Runs the law and owns a mine
In Perry County.
I believe the truth will out some day,
That we're working for jobs at decent pay,
Why, after dark my man comes in
With his wet clothes frozen to his skin
Digging coal so the world can run
And operators can have their fun,
In Perry County.
(from miriam berg's folksong collection)