Nancy Newman of Liberty Hall

I'll tell you the story of Nancy Newman

Who crossed the ocean to Dublin Town,

She went to work in a pizza parlor

And turned old Dublin upside down.

Now what would they want with a pizza parlor

In Dublin City by Liffey strand?

Since they have MacDonald's on Champs Élysées

In City Center it's Pizzaland.

Nancy enrolled in Dublin College

To learn of the Gaelic lore and rhyme,

And she had to work in a pizza parlor

To earn the fees for her study time.

The wage was low and the work was heavy,

The boss he hustled them night and day,

And Nancy went down to the Union office

To organize for a better way.

It was Richard Lennon the secretary

That heard her out with a gentle smile,

Fifty pence for an hour's labor,

Nothing at all for overtime.

He signed her up as a union member

With every craft to take her stand,

Liberty Hall was the union building

Just a short way from Pizzaland.

Nancy spoke to her fellow workers

To have them sign with the union, too,

But most of them were afraid of Hassan,

The boss who harried the kitchen crew.

Mary McArdle she joined with Nancy,

Signed with the ITGWU,

When Hassan saw what was going forward

He told the two women that they were through.

Mary McArdle she left for London,

But Nancy went up to Liberty Hall,

When Mr. Lennon he heard her story,

He lifted the phone and made a call.

His gentle voice became cold as iron,

"Is this the boss of Pizza Cafe?

You've fired a member of the General Union,

Mr. Hassan, you will rue the day!"

Nancy Newman began her vigil,

Walking alone on a picket line,

Up and down in front of the cafe

Nancy carried her picket sign.

The workers inside, they watched in wonder,

Marian, Gay, and the Murrays three,

And with Aisling, too, their hearts were marching

With Nancy Newman from over the sea.

Now O'Connell Street is a mighty broadway,

Hotels, theaters and shops and all,

Office buildings and patriot statues,

And over them looms great Liberty Hall.

Out of the Shelbourne and out of the Gresham,

From hotels and cafes large and fine

From lorries and trams came the union workers

To join in Nancy's picket line.

Soon it was tens and soon it was hundreds,

Hassan and Mamud they shook with fear,

But it wasn't till after the shift was over

The Pizzaland workers joined them there.

For if they'd walked out they would have been fired

Without being members of ITU,

And now they went up and signed in a body

And the strike was won ere the day was through.

Nancy Newman she got strike money,

Was reinstated with all back pay,

Associated Restaurants signed a contract

For the first time in their history.

This is the story of Nancy Newman,

Crossed the ocean to Dublin Town,

Learned to sing in the Gaelic language.

And pulled the restaurant combine down.