Sugar Factory Beet Song

Views of the factory in operation, 1930s.
[ photo: Irish Sugar Ltd. ]

'It's down in Graiguenamanagh, we're run off our feet,
Pullin', and crownin', and loadin' the beet.
Our hands they're all blistered, our backs nearly broke,
And divil a minit we get for a smoke.
It's funny to hear all the things that they say,
Each one complains in a different way,
Some bless the day that the factory was built,
And more people say, "Sure it have us all kilt'!.

Views of the factory in operation, 1930s.
[ photo: Irish Sugar Ltd. ]

One farmer's pleased, and the other one's vexed,
Because his percentage is lower than the next,
More farmers say that the wages are high,
And the labourers say, "With the hunger we'll die".
It's breakin' the heart of the postman, Mick Byrne,
When he looks at his bag with the factory return
The gentleman driving his car on the roads
Says, "Bad luck to the farmers, theirselves and their loads".

Views of the factory in operation, 1930s.
[ photo: Irish Sugar Ltd. ]

The railway-man says "Sure we're up half the night,
And no extra pay; sure that isn't right,
And everyone says "Pullin' beet in the rain, will kill
Half the country with rheumatic pain".
Let them all grumble, myself I will say,
We must have the sugar to sweeten the tay,
And since we've started to grow sugar beet
We've made our old country even more sweet.

[ composer: Eddie Power of Tinnahinch, Co. Carlow. air: The Mountains of Mourne ]