Lyrics Ned Ludd Part 5 (Peterloo The Day) - Steeleye Span

Ned Ludd Part 5 (Peterloo The Day)

We have new paper money, and railway tracks
We paid for the war with our new income tax
But too many soldiers are home from the war
Looking for work with us miserable poor
Me and all the family put on our Sunday best
We walked down to Saint Peter’s Field to hear Hunt and the rest
Thousands were gathered, in perfect peace and calm
There for to listen, intending no harm
But before Mister Hunt or the others could talk
Many armed constables among us did walk
We quietly linked arms, the speakers to protect
But the magistrates grew fearful, and trouble did suspect
Concerned for the city, they called the yeomanry
And Hussars who’d fought at Waterloo, they say, for you and me
They crushed us with their horses, all swaggering and proud!
And tried to reach the constables, lost among the crowd
The brutal yeoman cavalry attacked the people first
Farmers and their loaners, by far they were the worst
Drawing out their sabers, they slashed through the crowd
Men woman and children, all screaming out loud
Farmers and their loaners, oh yes they wore the worst
Why was this country England with violence so cursed?