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