With a booming voice, you could hear across the land,
He said the rich don’t give a damn for the common man,
Says it’s up to us, to take what we can,
They’ll not stop until they’ve broken everyone
The railways, they took their share,
And the grain companies took their share,
And in Winnipeg, when the cars arrived, they took all the market could bear,
So what was left for the ploughman’s share?
With a booming voice you could hear across the land,
He said, we’ll take our grain and ship it ourselves to them,
We’ll buy all the cars we need, we’ll own the elevators, we’ll own the seed,
We’ll take our rightful share.
In Winnipeg, they tried to condemn him,
They refused to sell the farmer’s grain when it came in,
So the booming voice that echoed across the land,
Said, we’ll elect ourselves to office, and run this whole commission.
The booming voice you could hear across the land,
Said the rich don’t give a damn for the common man,
They’ll take all they can buy, they’ll take all they can steal,
And leave nothing for the families who work the fields.
They won their seat at the parliament,
The farmers united are a force to be reckoned with,
And that booming voice said I believe we can,
Put an end to poverty within this generation.
Well that booming voice you could hear across the land,
Said the rich don’t give a damn for the common man,
And that ain’t gonna change until we all lend a hand,
And build a Co-operative Commonwealth Federation.
Yeah the booming voice that rang across the land,
People heard it booming, but they didn’t quite understand,
He promised a better future, for the, common man,
But history it repeats when it’s forgotten.
Well his children died in war, and his wife died young,
And this booming voice packed his bags and left Saskatchewan.
He moved to the coast, and lived for a short time there,
And to his own hand, he gave his life, and the voice was no longer heard.
credits
from The Qu'Appelle Valley,
released April 29, 2016
Vocals: B.D. Willoughby
Hawaiian Guitar & Banjo: Kris Smith
Classical Guitar: B.D. Willoughby
Bass: Scott Fulton
Drums: Mark Budd
Keyboards: Steve ‘The Hat’ Jeske
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