Jesus was a working man, a hero, you shall hear,
Born in the slums of Bethlehem
at the turning of the year
Yes, the turning of the year
When Jesus was a little
at the streets rang with his name
For he argued with the older man
and he put them all to shame
Yes, he put them all to shame
His father, he apprenticed him
A carpenter to be
To plane and drill and work with skill
In the town of Ga lilee
Yes, the town of Galilee
He became a roving
journeyman,
and he wandered far and wide,
And he saw how wealth and poverty
live always side by side,
Yes, always side by side.
He said, come all you working men,
you farmers and weavers too,
If you will only organise,
the world belongs to you.
Yes, the world belongs to you.
So the fishermen sent two delegates,
and the farmers and weavers too,
And they formed a working
committee of twelve
To see the struggle through,
yes, to see the struggle through
When the rich men heard
what the carpenter had done
To the Roman troops they ran
Saying, put this rebel
Jesus down,
he's a menace to God and man,
yes, a menace to God and man.
The commander of the occupying troops,
he laughed and then he said,
There's a cross to spare
on Cal vary Hill,
by the weekend he'll be dead.
Yes, by the weekend he'll be dead.
Now Jesus walked among the poor,
for the poor were his own kind.
And they wouldn't let the
cops get near enough
to take him from behind.
Yes, to take him from behind
So they hired a man of the traitor's trade
And a stool pigeon was he
And he sold his brother to
the butcher's men
For a fistful of silver money
A fistful of money
Jesus lay in the prison cell
and they beat him and offered him bribes to
desert the cause of his own poor folk
and work for the rich man's tribe,
yes, work for the rich man's
The sweat stood out upon his brow,
And the blood was in his eye,
And they nailed his body
to the Roman cross,
And they laughed as they
watched him die,
Yes, they laughed as they
watched him die.
Two thousand years have
passed and gone,
And many a hero too,
And the dream of this poor carpenter
At last it is coming true,
Yes, at last it is coming true.