Ewan MacColl pikte Four Pence A Day via Joan Littlewood op van John Gowland, een mijnwerker in Teesdale. Gowland herinnerde zich alleen fragmenten van het lied en Littlewood vroeg MacColl de song af te maken.
De song dateert vermoedelijk uit de vroege 19e eeuw, een tijd waarin de ijzerertsmijnen van Teesdale eigendom waren van de London Lead Company. Het lied gaat over de jongens die samen met gehandicapte arbeiders werden ingezet om de loodhoudende rotsen te scheiden van de klei en het afval, zodat ze konden worden bewerkt en vermalen om het waardevolle lood te winnen. De lonen waren uiteraard laag en de arbeidsomstandigheden abominabel.
The ore is waiting in the tubs the snow’s upon the fell
Canny folk are sleeping yet but lead is reet to sell
Come me little washer lad come let’s awa
We’re bound down to slavery for four pence a day
It’s early in the morning we rise at five o’clock
And the little slaves come to the door to knock, knock, knock
Come me little washer lad, come let’s awa
It’s very hard to work for four pence a day
My father was a miner and lived down in the town
Twas hard work and poverty that always kept him down
He aimed for me to go to school, but brass he could not pay
So i had to go to the washing rake for four pence a day
My mother rises out of bed with tears on her cheeks
Puts my wallet on my shoulders, which has to serve a week
It often fills her great big heart when she unto me does say
I never thought you would have worked for four pence a day
Fourpence a day, me lads, and very hard to work
And never a pleasant look from a gruffy looking Turk
His conscience it may fall and his heart it may give way
Then he’ll raise our wages to nine pence a day
Uitgeli hte afbeelding: By The joy of all things – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=83564005
