The Ballad Of Richard Lewis (Dic Penderyn)
(Martyn Joseph)

Thunder rolled and the rain came down St Mary Street
But on this day thousands stood their ground
A silent crowd, who's heads are bowed in helplessness
Bid farewell.
And te wife of a Richard Penderyn,
Supported there too weak to stand
Disbelieving anger and sorrow
For her innocent man

She said lift me up, oh lift me boys,
Let me see the one I love,
Lift me up, oh lift me boys
Let me see the man I love one more time.

Broken by starvation and poverty,
While the iron masters sipped their wine
Young and old together marched for justice,
But the bayonet and the bullet's what they find
And bread or blood cried a collier
We've come too far lads now to run
But in our Merthyr town in 1831
They were cut down by the government guns

And in the midst of senseless slaughter
A soldier wounded in the thigh
Who later swore on oath at the trial
That Dic Penderyn was not the guy.
And though he stood for everything they wanted
And rose with his people on that day,
If could not have been he that harmed the soldier
But some there with a grudge put him away.
Said they'd stitch him up some day.

Despite petitions and cries for mercy
All that the facts had to say
Neither King nor his parliament would listen
Even the jdge was turned away
So hey Lord Melbourne how did you sleep then?
With all that evidence in your face
Well, you shot down twenty-four so why not hang someone,
You've got to keep those workers in their place.

And he slowly climbs the steps to the gallows pole
The last few moments of a life
As his eyes surveyed the crowd of gallant Welsh
He's looking for his wife, he can't see his wife

She said lift me up, oh lift me boys,
Let me see the one I love,
Lift me up, oh lift me boys,
Let me see the man I love one more time.

But louder and longer than the sound of guns
Is the memory of what was done
Well you can only trample people down for so long
Time will show you have not won
And long before all this on a hill in Palestine
They strung another one up they say was a friend of yours and mine
Dying in the place of another one
But in the morning comes the sun, in the morning comes the sun.

Lift me up, oh lift me
Let me see the one I love,
Lift me up, oh lift me
Let me see the one I love one more time.
Lift me up, oh lift me boys
Let me see the one I love one more time
Lift me up, oh lift me boys
Let me see the one I love
One more time