Ballad of the Carpenter (LP版)

Ballad Of The Carpenter (LP版) - Phil Ochs

Jesus was a working man

And a hero you will hear

Born in the town of Bethlehem

At the turning of the year

At the turning of the year

When Jesus was a little lad

Streets rang with his name

For he argued with the older men

And put them all to shame

He put them all to shame

He became a wandering journeyman

And he traveled far and wide

And he noticed how wealth and poverty

Live always side by side

Live always side by side

So he said "Come all you working men

Farmers and weavers too

If you would only stand as one

This world belongs to you

This world belongs to you"

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

He's a menace to God and man

The commander of the occupying troops

Just laughed and then he said

"There's a cross to spare on Calvaries hill

By the weekend he'll be dead

By the weekend he'll be dead"

Now Jesus walked among the poor

For the poor were his own kind

And they'd never let them get near enough

To take him from behind

To take him from behind

So they hired one of the traders trade

And an informer was he

And he sold his brother to the butchers men

For a fistful of silver money

For a fistful of silver money

And Jesus sat in the prison cell

And they beat him and offered him bribes

To desert the cause of his fellow man

And work for the rich men's tribe

To work for the rich men's tribe

And the sweat stood out on Jesus' brow

And the blood was in his eye

When 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

Many a hero too

But the dream of this poor carpenter

Remains in the hands of you

Remains in the hands of you