(Tune: “Roddy
McCorley”)
Both fruits and berries freely grow and
rain falls from the sky,
We are allowed a share of both, but
only if we buy,
There should be no proprietors who
claim both stream and tree,
“It‘s just common sense!”
declared Thomas Spence, from the Hive of Liberty.
Most people must labour to live, while
the few take their ease,
Consuming most of the nectar produced
by worker bees.
They claim to own the titles to
whatever should be free,
“It’s just common sense!”
declared Thomas Spence, from the Hive of Liberty.
Leaving his schoolroom by the Tyne,
where coaly keel boats sailed,
He ventured down to Holborn town and
was in Shrewsbury jailed,
For proclaiming the Rights of Man as
how things ought to be;
“It’s just common sense!”
declared Thomas Spence, from the Hive of Liberty.
Who gave the rivers to the rich? Who
granted them the land?
And why should you have to pay for a
patch on which to stand?
Do not defer to those who’d claim the
wind, the sun and sea!
“It’s just common sense!”
declared Thomas Spence, from the Hive of Liberty.
Two hundred years and more have passed
from the day that he died,
There may be no Spensonia, but none can
say he lied.
The rich wish to be richer still, the
rest fear poverty.
“It’s just common sense!”
declared Thomas Spence, from the Hive of Liberty.
Dave Alton
