Utah Phillips
The Charge on Mother Jones
Oh, the Patriotic troopers come a marching down the pike
Come to shoot the miners in the colorado strike
With whisky in their bellies, and vengance in their sould
They came prepared to shoot the miners full of holes
In front of those brave troopers loomed
[interjection, spoken: Loomed! loomed? she was less than five feet tall, weighed less than a hundred pounds, if you can look like that and Loom you probably oughtta be somebody]
In front of those brave troopers loomed a sight you seldom see
A white-haired rebel woman, whose age was eighty-three
"charge!" cried the valiant captain, in awful thunderous tones —
And the patriotic troopers charged, and captured Mother Jones
Oh it's great to be a trooper with a musket in your hand
Prepared to do dirty work the lords of wealth command
It's great to shoot a miner and hear his dying groans
But there never was such glory as that charge on mother jones