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The song “Ordinary Man” has been a core component of Moore’s set listings since he first adopted it in his repertoire, and used it as the title of his 1985 album, Ordinary Man. It was originally pressed into his hand as a cassette recording by a British singer from Grimsby named Peter Hames after one of Moore’s many British concerts. Hames’s ballad is an indictment of the savage cuts to employment imposed on British workers during the Thatcherite class war of the 1980s. The melody and lyrics touched a chord in Moore, and his incisive but empathic recording of it transformed Hames’s little-known song into a classic protest ballad against a rapacious neoliberal capitalism. - from Mike Ingham's paper about the song.
Ordinary Man
by Peter Hames
Intro:
F G Am (x3)
I'm an ordinary man,
nothing special, nothing grand
Had to work for everything I own
I never asked for a lot,
I was happy with what I got
Enough to keep my family and my home
Now they say that times are hard
and they've handed me my cards
They say there's not the work to go a- round
And when the whistle blows,
these gates will finally close
Tonight they're going to shut this factory down
And they'll tear it dow- ow- -wn
F G Am (x1)
I never missed a day,
nor went on strike for better pay
For 20 years I served them best I could
Now with a handshake and a cheque
it seems so easy to forget
Loyalty through the bad times and through good
The owner says he's sad to see
that things have got so bad
But the captains of industry wont let him lose
He still drives a car and smokes his cigar
And still takes his family on a cruise,
he'll never lose
he'll never lose
Now it seems to me
such a cruel iro- ny
He's richer now than ever he was before
Now my check is spent
and I cant afford the rent
There's one law for the rich, one for the poor
Every day I've tried to salvage
some of my pride
To find some work so's I might pay my way
Oh but everywhere I go,
the answers always no
No work for anyone here today
No work tod- ay- ay- (x4)
Additional verse we don't usually do
And so condemned I stand,
just an ordinary man
Like thousands beside me in the queue
I watch my darling wife
trying to make the best of life
And God knows what the kids are going to do
Now that we are faced with this human waste
A generation cast aside
As long as I live, I never will forgive,
You've stripped me of my dignity and pride,
you stripped me bare
You've stripped me bare,
you've stripped me bare.
F G Am (x3)
I'm an ordinary man,
nothing special, nothing grand
Had to work for everything I own
I never asked for a lot,
I was happy with what I got
Enough to keep my family and my home
Now they say that times are hard
and they've handed me my cards
They say there's not the work to go a- round
And when the whistle blows,
these gates will finally close
Tonight they're going to shut this factory down
And they'll tear it dow- ow- -wn
F G Am (x1)
I never missed a day,
nor went on strike for better pay
For 20 years I served them best I could
Now with a handshake and a cheque
it seems so easy to forget
Loyalty through the bad times and through good
The owner says he's sad to see
that things have got so bad
But the captains of industry wont let him lose
He still drives a car and smokes his cigar
And still takes his family on a cruise,
he'll never lose
he'll never lose
Now it seems to me
such a cruel iro- ny
He's richer now than ever he was before
Now my check is spent
and I cant afford the rent
There's one law for the rich, one for the poor
Every day I've tried to salvage
some of my pride
To find some work so's I might pay my way
Oh but everywhere I go,
the answers always no
No work for anyone here today
No work tod- ay- ay- (x4)
Additional verse we don't usually do
And so condemned I stand,
just an ordinary man
Like thousands beside me in the queue
I watch my darling wife
trying to make the best of life
And God knows what the kids are going to do
Now that we are faced with this human waste
A generation cast aside
As long as I live, I never will forgive,
You've stripped me of my dignity and pride,
you stripped me bare
You've stripped me bare,
you've stripped me bare.