Building Up And Tearing England Down

[Intro]
| C | - | - | - |

[Verse 1]
       C                          F           G
I have won a hero's name with McAlpine and Costain
         C
With Fitzpatrick, Murphy,
    F    G        C
Ashe and Wimpey's gang
I've been often on the road,
on my way to draw the dole
When there's nothing left to do for Johnny Laing
          Am              F              Em           E7
And I used  to think that God made the mixer pick and hod
        Am               G                    F
So that Paddy might know hell above the ground
         C                             F
I've had gangers big and tough tell me tear it all out
G
rough
            C               F          G     C
When you're building up and tеaring England down

[Verse 2]
    C                              F            G
I remember Carriеr Jack he wore a hod upon his back
       C                  F            G   C
And he swore he'd one day set the world on fire
His face we've never seen since his shovel it cut clean
Through the middle of a big high tension wire
      Am
And I saw auld Balls McCaul,
F            Em            E7
 from the big  flyover fall
  Am            G                   F
Into a concrete mixer spinning round
          C
Though it was not his intent,
         F              G
he got a fine head of cement
            C               F          G    C
When he was building up and tearing England down

[Verse 3]
      C                       F                  G
I was on the hydro dam ah the day that Pat McCann
        C             F       G        C
Got the better of his stammer in a week
He fell from the shuttering jam and that poor auld
stuttering man
He was never ever more inclined to speak
       Am              F            Em
And no more like Robin Hood will he roam through
       E7
Cricklewood
        Am               G              F
Or dance  around the pubs of Camden Town
      C
Ah let no man complain,
        F             G
that no navvy dies in vain
          C               F          G    C
When he's building up and tearing England down

[Interlude]
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| -  - - - | -  - -  - | -  - - - | - - - - |
| Am - F - | Em - E7 - | Am - G - | F - - - |
| C  - - - | F  - G  - | C  - F G | C - - - |
| -  - - - | -  - -  - | -  - - - |

[Verse 4]
     C                          F                G
In a tunnel underground a young Limerick man was found
       C                 F     G       C
He was built into the new Victoria Line
When the bonus gang had past,
sticking through the concrete cast
Was the face of little Charlie Joe Devine
        Am               F         Em                E7
And the ganger man McGurk said big Paddy ate the work
            Am                 G                   F
When the gas  pipe burst and he flew off the ground
        C
Oh they swear he said "Don't slack,
                 F          G
I'll not be there until I'm back
        C               F         G     C
Keep on building up and tearing England down"

[Verse 5]
   C
So come you navvies bold,
       F                 G
who do tink that English gold
           C                 F     G     C
Is just waiting to be plucked from every sod
Or that the likes of you and me will ever get an OBE
Or a knighthood for good service to the hod
          Am
They're a concrete master race,
F             Em            E7
 there to keep  you in your place
      Am            G                     F
And a ganger man to kick you to the ground
       C                        F               G
If you ever try to take part of what the bosses make
            C               F          G    C
When you're building up and tearing England down

[Outro]
       C                        F               G
If you ever try to take part of what the bosses make
            C               F          G    C   F G C
When you're building up and tearing England down