Yesterday’s Men – The Fureys & Davey Arthur

The Irish Celtic folk group The Fureys & Davey Arthur are back with another song, Yesterday’s Men. It tells a poignant story of factory closure, redundancy, and the emotional toll on workers left behind. The song reflects the socio-economic struggles of the late 1970s and early 1980s in Ireland and the UK.

The song was composed by the prolific Derry-born songwriter and musician Phil Coulter, who frequently collaborated with The Fureys during this era, and writing many of their songs. He was awarded the Gold Badge by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors in October 2009.

Yesterday’s Men is from The Fureys’ 1981 album When You Were Sweet Sixteen, whose title track was featured here back in August. It reached No. 14 on the UK charts and No. 1 in Ireland. When I was a wee lad, I bought the album on a whim, based solely on the cover. It would become one of my most revisited records over the years, and many of its songs have already been presented here.

Yesterday’s Men is a less familiar tune from The Fureys, starting with a spirited piano introduction before settling into a rollicking, bouncy rhythm. You could imagine it fitting in well with the joyous, drink-fuelled celebrations of an Irish tavern, as people sing with abandon and reminisce about the good ol’ days. You can almost taste the froth on top of those pints.

I so enjoy listening to the heavy Irish accents in The Fureys’ songs, and nowhere are they more evident than here. Combine that with Phil Coulter’s colloquial and relatable lyrics, and you’ve got a song that tells its story in a way that feels almost like a conversation. There’s always a story in these songs, delivered so prominently that it feels as though it’s being narrated rather than simply sung. Like our fathers before us we worked there with pride / Now we fought back the bitterness burning inside.

I like to recall sayings such as, “They don’t make songs like this anymore.” Well, that couldn’t be truer in this instance. There’s so much atmosphere in these topical songs that, as a listener, you feel as though you’ve been slung right into the story and its merry accompaniment. I hope songs like this never fade away. They remind us music aficionados who are partial to the songs of yesteryear to keep breathing life into them and passing them on to future generations, so they won’t be forgotten.

‘Twas Joey the weasel that gave us the wire
They were closing our factory down
Though we didn’t believe him and we called him a liar
The redundancy letters came round
As we read them in silence, I choked back a tear
It was hard to believe after twenty-odd years

Chorus
Farewell my companions, my friends and my workmates
Farewell to the paydays, the pints and the craic
Oh, We gave them our best years now they’ve paid us back
By making us yesterday’s men
Sure as hell
By making us yesterday’s men

So We said our goodbyes by the factory gates
One cold Friday evening last year
And I saw it all there in the eyes of ma mates
The anger, the sadness, the fear
Like our fathers before us we worked there with pride
Now we fought back the bitterness burning inside

Chorus

Ah Now Jimmy, said she
Give the kids a few bob
After all, sure it is Friday night
But How could I tell her I was out of a job
From now on things were going to be tight
How well I remember it cut like a knife
I was never a day on the dole in my life

Chorus

The machines now are silent, the workbenches bare
And there’s dust on the factory floor
They’ve boarded the windows and have chained up the gates
And have padlocked the factory door
Now I’m on the scrap-heap, and I’m thirty-nine
Just one of the hundreds, shot down in my prime

Chorus

References:
1. The Fureys – Wikipedia