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

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?