BALLAD OF JOHN MACLEAN / DOMINIE

THE BALLAD OF JOHN MACLEAN

by

Matt McGinn

Tell me where ye’re gaun, lad, and who ye’re gaun to meet

I’m headed for the station that’s in Buchanan Street

I’ll join 200,000 that’s there to meet the train

That’s bringing back to Glasgow our own dear John Maclean

Dominie, Dominie

There was nane like John Maclean

The fighting Dominie

Tell me where he’s been, lad, why has he been there?

They’ve had him in the prison for preaching in the Square,

For Johnny held a finger at all the ills he saw

He was right side o the people, he was wrong side o the law

Dominie, Dominie

There was nane like John Maclean

The fighting Dominie

Johnny was a teacher in one o Glasgow’s schools

The golden law was silence but Johnny broke the rules

For a world of social justice young Johnny couldnae wait

He took his chalk and easel to the men at the shipyard gate

Dominie, Dominie

There was nane like John Maclean

The fighting Dominie

The leaders o the nation made money hand o’er fist

By grinding down the people by the fiddle and the twist

Aided and abetted by the preacher and the Press

John called for revolution and he called for nothing less

Dominie, Dominie

There was nane like John Maclean

The fighting Dominie

The bosses and the judges united as one man

For Johnny was a menace to the ’14-’18 plan

They wanted men for slaughter in the fields of Armentieres

John called upon the people to smash the profiteers

Dominie, Dominie

There was nane like John Maclean

The fighting Dominie

They brought him to the courtroom in Edinburgh town

But still he didnae cower, he firmly held his ground

And stoutly he defended his every word and deed

Five years it was his sentence in the jail in Peterheid

Dominie, Dominie

There was nane like John Maclean

The fighting Dominie

Seven months he lingered in prison misery

Till the people rose in fury, in Glasgow and Dundee

Lloyd George and all his cronies were shaken to the core

The prison gates were opened and John was free once more

Dominie, Dominie

There was nane like John Maclean

The fighting Dominie