The World Turned Upside Down (The Digger's Song)

In sixteen forty-nine to Saint George's Hill
ragged band they called the Diggers came to show the people's will.
They defied the landlords, they defied the law,
They were the dispossessed, reclaiming what was theirs.

"We come in peace," they said, "to dig and sow,
We come to work the land in common and to make the waste ground grow.
This earth divided we will make whole
So it can be a common treasury for all.

The sin of property we do disdain.
No man has any right to buy and sell the earth for private gain.
By theft and murder they steal the land,
Now everywhere the walls rise up at their command.

They make the laws to chain us well,
The clergy dazzle us with heaven or they [bad word] us into hell.
We will not worship the god they serve,
They god of greed who feeds the rich while poor folk starve.

We work, we eat together, we need no swords,
We will not bow to the masters or pay rent to the lords.
Still we are free men though we are poor,
You Diggers all, stand up for glory, stand up now!"

From the men of property the order came,
They sent the hired men and troopers to wipe out the Diggers' claim,
Tear down their cottages, destroy their corn.
They were dispersed, but still the vision carries on.

You poor, take courage, you rich, take care!
This earth was made a common treasury for everyone to share;
All things in common, all people one;
We come in peace, the order came to cut them down.