Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger - Ballad of the Carpenter (1960)

A beautiful song about Jesus as the first socialist of the history written by Ewan MacColl and registered together with Peggy Seeger for their LP "The New Briton Gazette Vol.1" in 1960 and successively registered by Phil Ochs for his album I Ain't Marching Anymore (1965). The song was previously available on KZbin only in the version of Phil Ochs and now also in the version of the authors.
Lyrics
Jesus was a working man
And a hero, you shall hear
Born in the slums of Bethelehem
At the turning of the year
At the turning of the year
When Jesus was a little lad
The streets rang with his name
For he argued with the aldermen (older men?)
And he put them all to shame
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 Galilee
The town of Galilee
He became a roving journeyman
And he wandered far and wide
And he saw how wealth and poverty
Lived always side by side
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
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
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
Menace to God and man"
The commander of the occupying troops
He laughed and then he said
"There's a cross to spare on Cavalry Hill
By the weekend he'll be dead
By the weekend he'll be dead
Jesus walked among the poor
For the poor were his own kind
And they never let the cops get close enough
To take him from behind
Oh, 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
When Jesus stood in the prison cell
They beat him and offered him bribes
To desert the cause of his own poor folk
And work for the rich men's tribe
Work for the rich men's tribe
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
They laughed as they watched him die
Two thousand years have passed and gone
And many a hero too
But the dream of this poor carpenter
At last is coming true

[@theremin24]

What a brilliant take on the life of Jesus of Nazareth. Not the sweet man you hear about in Sunday school.

[@biswadipdasgupta4204]

Beautiful song and beautiful photos.

[@marthacain1468]

Jesus was a working man...

[@davidcallebs9663]

Thanks a very nice song it tiz

[@davesmusictank1]

Awesome. Thank you, comrade.

[@cheeseheadfiddle]

Can we get this song onto wide rotation on American Christian radio stations?

[@sandramorey2529]

Anything Ewan wrote would most likely not be welcome on the Christian radio in the U.S. Ewan and Peggy were persona non grata in the US for a couple of decades because of their politics, which were very much in support of the working folks and against the bosses and against war and nuclear buildups.

[@chrisjames9942]

All the more reason to get it played.

[@ultrahevybeat]

@@sandramorey2529 it's so unchristian to care for the poor. Jesus would never do such a thing

[@stcmww5056]

"....the dream of this poor carpenter At last it is coming true..."

[@konstantinosm.3994]

How ?

[@greekcommie621]

​@@konstantinosm.3994this song was written a long time ago...

[@jamesgoltz4792]

It is sad to see this video and song received only 102 likes in 3 years.

[@sandramorey2529]

Here's another like. I have every recording Ewan and Peggy put out and all the books too. He was such a fine actor, balladeer and songwriter. She is a legend on her own. Met them several times and they were the most down to earth folks. I asked about a ballad and Peggy wrote the music down for me on a paper napkin.

[@kebrongurara1612]

@@sandramorey2529 i hope you kept that napkin

[@Folkerman66]

@@sandramorey2529 Do you have all her Russian recordings too? ;-)

[@richardj9016]

Wait a hundred years and it’ll take off.

[@jokepy4230]

​@@sandramorey2529- have you seen/heard the 1960 film "The Way We Live"? It features the music of Ewan & Peggy with film of the people and places of Darlington's railways.

[@slavyannaydenov2987]

Such nice song

[@marthacain1468]

...& Jesus was a traveler true, carpenter to his trade~who came for us all...

[@hopefulguitarist7532]

Interesting song. I'm playing along on a guitar tuned down a semi-tone and noodling around Dm, F (sort of) and Am.

[@Natalietrans]

I may not be Christian but religion is truer to the worker than the capitalist

[@tubemagpie]

Two thousand years have passed and gone And many a hero too But the dream of this poor carpenter At last is coming true REALLY?

[@stephengilmartin8312]

Upa workers

[@bruceringrose7539]

The notation in the lyrics (older men?) can be deleted, the aldermen were village leaders (Town Council), so "aldermen" is correct in the context of the song.

[@user-ch5qd3uz3l]

who's the cutie at 3:23

[@maurizioatyout]

Still Peggy Seeger in her early years with Ewan, probably when she was 20th or something more.

[@nedludd7622]

Nice, but Jesus was definitely not the first socialist.

[@red32577]

It was Buddha ;)

[@user-ch5qd3uz3l]

he wasn't even the first Christian

[@stephengilmartin8312]

Norma ❤