William Granger just got by on his wages at the mill

But he was an honest man, no fingers in the till

He supplemented what he earned with what he grew on a bit of land

And kept sheep on the common green as the right of every man.

 

William Granger had a son, William Granger II

He followed in his father’s work and learned a thing or two

But his family did not fare so well, the times were tough and lean

Especially when the manor lord enclosed the common green

 

He said it doesn’t have to be this way

So we make our appeal

Save a little land and sea

For the common weal

 

Now fifteen Granger’s come and gone, Old Billy works the bay

You see him at the public docks with his haul at close of day

Oysters, crabs and rockfish, each in its time it’s clear

A modest harvest from them deep will keep him through the year

 

Bill Jr. tried his hands on the water is his youth

But he could not keep the payments up on the boat to tell the truth

And when they closed the working dock he took it as a sign

And started in construction and they say was doing fine

 

Bill Jr’s boy, young Willie was hiking with his school

And when no one was looking he fell in a briny pool

His friends, they tried to save him, but the boy he could not swim

And how I’m very sad to say this story ends with him

 

If the town had had a public beach where boys swim in the bay

Perhaps if he’d grown up with boats he’d be alive today

But like his humble forbears, deprived of sea and land

He might have thrived with access to the right of every man

 

It doesn’t have to be this way

So we make our appeal

Save a little land and sea

For the common weal.