Verse
F# C# F#
Take a trip with me in 1913
B C# F#
To Calumet, Michigan, in the copper country.
B F#
I'll take you to a place called EYE talian Hall
F#
Where the miners…………….
(4 MEASURES OF G)
F# C# F# B F#
are having their big Christmas ball.
[Verse]
F# C# F#
I'll take you indoor, and up a high stair.
B C# F#
There's singin' and dancin', it's heard everywhere,
B F#
I'll let you shake hands with the people you see
F#
And watch…………….
(4 MEASURES OF G)
F# C# F#
the kids dance round the big Christmas tree.
[Verse]
F# C# F#
There's singin' and dancin' and songs in the air,
B C# F#
An' the spirit of Christmas is there everywhere,
B F#
Before you know, you're friends with us all
F#
And you're dancin'…………….
(4 MEASURES OF G)
F# C# F#
around and around in the hall.
[Verse]
F# C# F#
You ask about work and you ask about pay;
B C# F#
They'll tell you they make less than a dollar a day,
B F#
Just workin' the copper claims, riskin' their lives,
F#
So it's fun…………….
(4 MEASURES OF G)
F# C# F#
to spend Christmas with children and wives.
[Verse]
F# C# F#
G# little girl sits by the Christmas tree lights
B C# F#
To play piano, she gotta keep quiet.
B F#
To hear all this fun you would not realize
F#
That the copper…………….
(4 MEASURES OF G)
F# C# F#
-boss thug-men are millin' outside.
[Verse]
F# C# F#
The copper-thugs stuck their heads through the door
B C# F#
One of them yelled and he screamed, "There's a fire!"
B F#
G# lady, she hollered, "There's no such a thing!
F#
Keep on …………….
(4 MEASURES OF G)
F# C# F#
with your party, there's no such thing."
[Verse]
F# C# F#
G# few people rushed, and it's only a few.
B C# F#
"It's just the scabs and the thugs foolin' you."
B F#
G# man grabbed his daughter and he carried her down,
F#
But the thugs…………….
(4 MEASURES OF G)
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held the door and he could not get out.
[Verse]
F# C# F#
And then others followed, a hundred or more,
B C# F#
But most everybody remained on the floor.
B F#
The scabs and the thugs they still laughed at their joke,
F#
And the children…………….
(2 MEASURES OF G)
F# C# F#
were smothered on the stairs by the door.
[Verse]
F# C# F#
Such a terrible sight I never did see,
B C# F#
We carried our children back up to their tree.
B F#
The scabs and the thugs they still laughed at their spree,
F#
And the children…………….
(2 MEASURES OF G)
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that died there were seventy-three.
[Verse]
F# C# F#
The piano played a slow funeral tune,
B C# F#
But the town was lit up by a cold Christmas moon,
B F#
The parents they weep and the miners they moan,
F#
"See …………….
(2 MEASURES OF G)
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what your greed for money has done."
[Outro]
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