Henry's Songbook

Oh it's easy knowing the weavers when they come into town
With their long yellow hair and their stockings hanging down
And their aprons tied afore them and their scissors in their hands
It's easy knowing the weavers for they'll never get their man
Oh they'll never get their man, oh they'll never get their man
It's easy knowing the weavers for they'll never get their man

And it's easy knowing the doffers when they come into town
With their long ragged hair and their stockings hanging down
And their aprons tied afore them and their scissors in their hands
It's easy knowing the doffers for they'll never get their man
Oh they'll never get their man, oh they'll never get their man
It's easy knowing the doffers for they'll never get their man

Oh it's easy knowing the spinners when they come into town
With their old ragged clothes and their weft all hanging down
And their aprons tied afore them and their scissors in their hands
It's easy knowing the spinners for they'll never get their man
Oh they'll never get their man, oh they'll never get their man
It's easy knowing the spinners for they'll never get their man

And it's easy knowing the fleurers when they come into town
With their long muzzled chins and their petticoats hanging down
And their aprons tied afore them and their scissors in their hands
It's easy knowing the fleurers for they'll always get their man
Oh they'll always get their man, oh they'll always get their man
It's easy knowing the fleurers for they'll always get their man

(as sung by The Johnstons)

[1968:] A nonsense song with an attractive melody and chorus. The song is set in the Belfast weaving mills at the turn of the century and deals with the weavers, the doffers, the spinners and the fleurers (embroiderers). Why the last named always get their man is not quite clear. (Notes 'The Johnstons')

[1974:] "They'll never get their man" sangen voller Schadenfreude die 'Fleurers', die Stickerinnen, in den Textilfabriken von Belfast um die Jahrhundertwende über die Heiratschancen ihrer Kolleginnen: der 'Weavers', der 'Spinners' und der 'Doffers'. (Manfred Bonson, notes 'Irish Folk Scene')

[1974:] Many doffers were crook-backed from their work of carrying heavy bobbins [...]. (Palmer, Poverty 18)

[1986:] [The] prosperity of Ulster was built upon the expanding linen industry. It continued to flourish into the present century and today its buildings are carefully preserved, the thatched mills that used wind and water power, the larger brick mills that employed steam power, some of them now converted to other purposes. (Grimble, Robert Burns 30)

[1988:] In the grim linen-mills of Belfast, the routine until within living memory was from six in the morning until six at night, with meal-breaks of one and a half hours, on weekdays, and from six till noon, with a break of half an hour, on Saturdays. In the spinning rooms, the work of removing full bobbins of yarn from the frames and replacing them with empty ones was the work of the doffers, sometimes girls, sometimes young women, often barefoot, wearing aprons (called rubbers), and wielding pickers to dig out yarn which wrapped itself round the roller when the thread broke. The bobbins were large and heavy. The work was hard, noisy, and dirty, and the wages low, but the doffers still found the energy to sing. [...] The weavers [spinners, fleurers] would retaliate by singing the same song adapted to favour themselves, or others [...].(Palmer, History 106f)

See also
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=33536
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=7641#54586