Union Songs
On the Shift
Author Unknown©1893
From the darkness of the mine, where the golden treasure lies,
Comes the clang of drills and hammers, and the sounds of labour rise
To the outer air and sunshine, through the shaftings narrow rift
Comes the busy hum of hundreds who are working on the shift. It's shift, boys, shift ! above the sun shines clear.
We'll seek to-night for its mellow light, in CLIFTON'S SPARKLING BEER.
We seek for no man's favour, nor desire more costly gift
Than CLIFTON'S ALE, and a muscle hale, when grafting on the shift. The men that live above us--though they work in light of day,
We envy not their toiling, we've as good a time as they,
As we swing the pick and hammer, putting heart in every lift,
Oh, there's many jobs are worse by far than grafting on the shift ! It's shift, boys, shift ! above the sun shines clear,
We'll seek to-night for its mellow light, in CLIFTON'S SPARKLING BEER.
We seek for no man's favour, nor desire more costly gift
Than CLIFTON'S ALE, and a muscle hale, when grafting on the shift.
Notes
Published in The Northern Miner (Charters Towers) Thursday 31 August 1893 p. 3.
see http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article77032998Is it a miner's song or an advertisement for beer, or both?
union songs..........a selection by mark gregory