THE BATTLE OF WAPPING (1986)

They pushed us once, they pushed us twice

Their steeds with nostrils flared

They forced us back with horse and shield

As if we weren’t there.

They bussed them in from out of town

The workers who replaced us,

No union man would cross the line

No scabs would dare to face us.

*

We were bopping in Wapping

Till the fuzz rolled up,

We were copping in Wapping

Till Murdoch fucked it up.

Don’t buy the Sun, don’t buy the Sun

Have some fun, burn the fucking Sun

*

The miners they had just been ruined

We should have known the score,

But Thatcher’s thugs took us for mugs

So we had to come back for more.

For one long year we held our ground

We wouldn’t let the bastards pass,

Till Murdoch said ‘block print is dead

So yield you scum or kiss my ass’.

*

We were bopping in Wapping

Till the fuzz rolled up,

We were copping in Wapping

Till Murdoch fucked it up,

Don’t buy the Sun, don’t buy the Sun

Have some fun, burn the fucking Sun.

*

St Katherine’s Dock looked like a war zone

Awash with bleeding heads and limbs,

While the backsliders, scabs and careerists

Sat in the shade sipping their Pimms,

Wapping is the new Jerusalem

Fleet Street has been; now Fleet Street is gone

Read all about it, everybody shout it

Murdoch’s steamroller is still rolling on.

*

We were bopping in Wapping

Till the fuzz rolled up,

We were copping in Wapping

Till Murdoch fucked it up.

Don’t buy the Sun, don’t buy the Sun

Have some fun, burn the fucking Sun.