When not being assigned the traditional tag, ‘Poverty Knock’ is most commonly attributed to a weaver from Batley, West Yorkshire, called Tom Daniel. It was collected by A. E. (Tony) Green in 1965. Some claim he merely recalled the song. Others suspect he actually wrote it. It recounts the experiences of a weaver in the Yorkshire mills, the song blames workers’ poverty on mean mill owners (‘Gaffer’s too skinny to pay’). It condemns the lazy cruelty of the industrial system, in which a woman hit by a flying shuttle is left to bleed, unattended.
‘Poverty Knock’ is one of those odd ones that falls between the cracks. At first glance, you might think you’ve got yourself a good old industrial song. It could even be a protest song of some sort, given that it deals exclusively with the plight of the cotton mill workers. When Chumbawumba recorded their version, they wrote that the song reminds us, “Threat of unemployment keeps wages low, keeps workers in fear of a willing workforce waiting to take any available job, keeps the boss’s profits high.” It doesn’t get much more protesty than that.
One thing that is commonly agreed on when it comes to ‘Poverty Knock’ is that it probably developed as an accompaniment to the relentless sound of the Dobby Loom. This piece of industrial kit is often cited as the weavers’ downfall, as its introduction in the early 1840s forced wages down and made workers increasingly expendable.
As if enough insult hadn’t been added to enough injury, those hearing it at ear-shattering volume, unendingly from the early hours until late at night, began to imagine that the machine muttered words. Just as you begin to hear something like “clackety clack” if you listen to the repetitive time signature of a railway carriage, the starved and torn-down weavers began to believe that they could hear two merciless words coming from this instrument of torture and humiliation:
“Poverty knock, poverty knock, poverty knock…”
In short, regardless of its origin, it’s one of those songs that seems to be picked up by each generation. There can be no other reason other than it’s an incredibly poignant piece, almost weighed down by emotion, with a set of lyrics that speak to the greed-fulled injustices that never dissipate.
