Five hundred men sacked for refusing to ever cross a picket line / The voices down the ages warning “never cross a picket line” / You must never cross a picket line

Two years gone by but still they never ever cross a picket line / With their wives and children they stand together, never cross a picket line / You must never cross a picket line

Look away, look away / Look away out West to San Francisco / Look away, look away / Look away down South to Sydney Harbour / Where the dockers have organised / The world’s longest picket line

Technically this is an illegal strike, never cross a picket line / But technically workers have no rights, never cross a picket line / You must never cross a picket line

Oh, I want to live in a Brand New Britain, never cross a picket line / Where workers rights are enshrined and written, never cross a picket line / You must never cross a picket line

Look away, look away / Look away out West to San Diego / Look away, look away / Look away out East to far Osaka / Where the dockers have organised / The world’s longest picket line

The Tories are gone but there’s no improvement, never cross a picket line / Now where is the might of the Labour movement, never cross a picket line / You must never cross a picket line

Look away, look away / Look away down South to Auckland City / Look away, look away / Look away out West to old Vancouver

Where the dockers have organised / The world’s longest picket line / For the dockers have realized / You must never cross a picket line

[By Billy Bragg © Universal Music Publishing Group – Warner Chappell Music, Inc. / Liberation Records – Utility Records, 1990]