The Green Ban Fusiliers

Words:  Denis Kevans
Tune:  Traditional (McAlpine's Fusiliers)




CHORUS:
Up Broadway to the MBA come the Green Ban Fusiliers.
They stole the street with their marching feet, placards high above their ears.
In Sydney town they would not lie down, they gave Martin's scabs some cheer,
And it's up Broadway to the MBA come the Green Ban Fusiliers.

Half-smart thieves with their Gucci sleeves and car parks on the brain
Told the usual lie: 'The trees've got to die' - the fig trees in Sydney's domain,
And some said, 'Joe, we orta let 'em go. It's only bloody timber to be cleared,
Ah, but listen to the trees as they whisper to the breeze and the Green Ban Fusiliers.

Bulldozer blades made a lightning raid, coming in with a great big rush,
Moving in for the kill up at Hunter's hill, at beautiful Kelly's Bush,
But the local women lay down in the bulldozer's way, to the bucking and the shuddering of the gears,
When their hands were raised the ones they praised were the Green Ban Fusiliers.


CHORUS:
Up Broadway to the MBA come the Green Ban Fusiliers.
They stole the street with their marching feet, placards high above their ears.
In Sydney town they would not lie down, they gave Martin's scabs some cheer,
And it's up Broadway to the MBA come the Green Ban Fusiliers.

They made a stand for our sunny land at the Rocks and Woolloomooloo.
On the chimney tops they waltzed with the cops to save a bit of Sydney for you,
And the finance fleas who made refugees of families who had been pioneers
Finished on their arse, and they did their brass with the Green Ban Fusiliers.

Through the years and through my tears I can see 'em marching again,
From the dizzy heights and the concrete sites in sunshine and in rain,
That patch of green's gettin' a lovely old sheen, no matter how many flow the years,
And it's up Broadway to the MBA come the Green Ban Fusiliers.

CHORUS:
Up Broadway to the MBA come the Green Ban Fusiliers.
They stole the street with their marching feet, placards high above their ears.
In Sydney town they would not lie down, they gave Martin's scabs some cheer,
And it's up Broadway to the MBA come the Green Ban Fusiliers.

This parody of Dominic Behan's McAlpine's Fusiliers was written by Denis Kevans in 1972 and used as part of the presentation, An Unlikely Alliance at the 2011/2012 Woodford Folk Festival.  

Another of Denis' songs on the topic of the Green Bans industrial movement.

This recording from the last performance at the festival features:

Ann Bermingham:  vocals, shaker

Dale Jacobsen:  vocals

Sandy McCutcheon:  vocals

Nicole Murray:  vocals, fiddle

Helen Rowe:  vocals, fiddle

Peggy Seeger:  vocals, banjo

John Thompson:  vocals, guitar

The illustration to this post is a photograph of Jack Mundey, one of the principal actors in the Green Bans movement, in conversation with police.