The Dubliners - Building Up And Tearing England Down lyrics

Oh, I won a hero's name
With McAlpine and Costain with Fitz Patrick
Murph Ash and the Wimpey's gang
I've been often on the road on
Me way to draw the dole
When there's nothing left to
Do for Johnny Laing
And I used to think that God made the mixer
Pick and hod
So a Paddy might no hell above the ground
I've had gangers big and tough
Tell me tear that hole out rough
When you're building up and
Tearing England down

In a tunnel under ground a
Young Limerick man was found
He was built into the new Victoria line
When the bonus gang had passed
Sticking from a concrete cast
Was the face of little Charlie Joe Devine
And the ganger man McGurk said
Big Paddy hates to work
When the gasmain blew and he
Flew off the ground
Oh they swore he said "Don't slack!
I'll not be there until I'm back
Keep on building up and
Tearing England down!"

I was on the hydro dam on
The day that Jack McCann
Got the better of his stammer in a week
He fell from the shuttering jamb
And that poor auld stuttering man
He was never ever more inclined to speak
And I saw auld Bald McCall
From the big flyover fall
Into a concrete mixer spinning round
Tough it wasn't his intent he got
A fine head of cement
When he was building up
And tearing England down

I remember Carrier Jack with his
Hod upon his back how he swore one day he'd
Set the world on fire
But his face they've never seen
Since his shovel it cut clean
Through the middle of the
Big high tension wire
Oh, no more like Robin Hood
Will he roam through Cricklewood
Or dance around the pubs in Camden Town
Oh, but let no man complain
Sure no Pat can die in vain
When he's building up and
Tearing England down

So come all you navvies bold
Do not think that English gold
Is just waiting to be taken from each sod
Or the likes of you and me
Will ever get an OBE
Or a knighthood for good service to the hod
They've the concrete master race for to
Keep you in your place
And a ganger man to kick you to the ground
If you ever try to take part
Of what the bosses make
When you're building up and
Tearing England down