Lyrics - Charley On The Mta by Berman Jacqueline

COMMENTS:
Written by
Jacqueline
Berman (now
Steiner) and
Bess
Hawes as a campaign song for
Walter
F.
O'
Brian, the
Communist
Party candidate in
Boston's mayoral election.
When
Will
Holt recorded the number as a pop song for
Coral, the record company was astounded by a deluge of protests from
Boston because the song made a hero out of a local "radical".
The record was hastily withdrawn an a new version recorded which eliminated
O'
Brien's claim to musical fame.
In the later
Kingston
Trio release,
Walter
F. was changed to
George to avoid advertising
Commies on the air.
Let me tell you the story of a man named
Charley
On a tragic and fateful day
He put ten cents in his pocket, kissed his wife and family
Went to ride on the
MTACHORUS:
Did he ever return?
No, he never returned,
And his fate is still unlearn'd.
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of
Boston
He's the man who never returned.
Charley handed in his dime at the
Kendall
Square
Station
And he changed for
Jamaica
Plain
When he got there the conductor told him, "
One more nickel."
Charley could not get off that train.
Now all night long
Charley rides through the tunnels
Saying, "
What will become of me?
How can
I afford to see my sister in
Chelsea
Or my cousin in
Roxbury?"
Charley's wife goes down to the
Scollay
Square station
Every day at quarter past two
And through the open window she hands
Charley a sandwich
As the train comes rumblin' through.
Now you citizens of
Boston, don't you think it's a scandal
That the people have to pay and pay
Vote for
George
O'
Brien and fight the fare increase
Get poor
Charley off the
MTACHORUS:
Or else he'll never return, no he'll never return
And his fate will be unlearned.
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of
Boston.
He's the man (
Who's the man)
He's the man (
Oh, the man)
He's the man who never returned.

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