Song Lyrics
SPRINGHILL MINE DISASTER
(Ewan MacColl)
In the town of Springhill, Nova Scotia
Down in the dark of the Cumberland Mine
There's blood on the coal and miners lie
In roads that never saw sun nor sky
In roads that never saw sun nor sky
In the town of Springhill you don't sleep easy
Often the earth will tremble and roll
When the earth is restless, miners die
Bone and blood is the price of coal
Bone and blood is the price of coal
In the town of Springhill, Nova Scotia
Late in the year of fifty-eight
The day still comes and the sun still shines
But it's dark as the grave in the Cumberland Mine
But it's dark as the grave in the Cumberland Mine
Down at the coal face, miners working
Rattle of the belt and the cutter's blade
Rumble of the rock and the walls close round
The living and the dead men two miles down
The living and the dead men two miles down
Twelve men lay two miles from the pit shaft
Twelve men lay in the dark and sang
Long hot days in a miner's tomb
It was three feet high and a hundred long
It was three feet high and a hundred long
Three days passed and the lamps gave out
And Caleb Rushton he up and says
There's no more water or light or bread
So we'll live on songs and hope instead
We'll live on songs and hope instead
Listen to the shouts of the black-face miners
Listen through the rubble for the rescue team
Six hundred feet of coal and slag
Hope imprisoned in a three foot seam
Hope imprisoned in a three foot seam
Eight long days and some were rescued
Leaving the dead to lie alone
Through all their lives they dug their graves
Two miles of earth for a marking stone
Two miles of earth for a marking stone
THE STAR OF THE COUNTY DOWN
Near Banbridge Town in the County Down, one morning in July
Down a boreen green came a grand colleen
And she smiled as she passed me by
She looked so sweet, from her two bare feet
To the sheen of her nut brown hair
Such a winsome elf, I'd to shake meself
For to see I was really there
Chorus:
From Bantry Bay, up to Derry Quay
And from Galway to Dublin Town
No maid I've seen like the grand colleen
That I met in the County Down
As I onward sped, sure I scratch me head
And I looked with a feeling rare
Then I said, sez I, to passerby
"Who's the maid with the nut-brown hair?"
He smiled at me, and with pride sez he,
"She's the gem of old Ireland's crown."
"Young Rosie McCann, from the banks of the Bann"
The Star of the County Down."
Chorus
At the Harvest Fair she'll be surely there
And I'll dress in my Sunday clothes
With me hat cocked right, and me shoe shined bright
And a smile for me nut-brown rose
No pipe I'll smoke, no horse I'll yoke
Till my spade with the rust turns brown
Till my own smiling bride, by my own fireside
Sits the Star of the County Down
Chorus
Chorus
STEP IT OUT MARY
In the village of Kildore, there's a maiden young and fair
Her eyes they shone like diamonds, she had long and golden hair
When the countryman came riding, he came to her father's gate
Mounted on a milk white stallion, he came at the stroke of eight
Chorus:
Step it out Mary, my fine daughter,
Step it out Mary, if you can.
Step it out Mary, my fine daughter,
Show your legs to the country man.
I've come to court your daughter, Mary of the golden hair
I have wealth and I have money, I have goods beyond compare
I will buy her silks and satins and a gold ring for her hand
I will build for her a mansion; she'll have servants to command
Chorus
But kind sir I love a soldier, and I've pledged to him my hand
I don't want your goods and money; I don't want your house nor land
Mary's father spoke up sharply: you'll do as you are told
You'll be married on the Sunday; you'll wear the ring of gold
Chorus
In the village of Kildore, there's a deep stream running wild,
They found Mary there at midnight; she drowned with her soldier boy
In the cottage there is music, you can hear her father say:
Step it out Mary, my fine daughter, Sunday is your wedding day.
Chorus
STREAMS OF WHISKEY
(Shane McGowan)
Last night as I slept, I dreamt I met with Behan
He took me by the hand and I passed the time of day
The questions that I asked on the crux of life's philosophies
He had but these few, clear and simple words to say
Chorus:
I am going, I am going, any which way the wind may be blowing
I am going; I am going, where streams of whiskey are flowing
The words that he spoke were the wisest of philosophies
There was nothing ever gained by a wet thing called a tear
When the world seemed to dark and I need a light inside of me
I'll go into a bar and drink fifteen pints of beer
Chorus
I've cursed, bled and swore, jumped bail and landed up in jail
They've often tried to hang me, but rope always went slack
Now that I've a pile, I'll go down to the Chelsea
I'll walk in on my feet, but I'll leave there on my back
Chorus
Chorus
THE STREETS OF LONDON
(Ralph McTell)
Have you seen the old man in the closed down market
Kicking up the papers in his worn out shoes
In his eyes you see no pride and held loosely by his side
Yesterday's papers, telling yesterday's news
Chorus:
So how can you tell me, you're lonely
And that for you the sun don't shine
Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London
I'll show you something to make you change you mind
Have you seen the old girl who walks the streets of London
Dirt in her hair and her clothes in rags
She's no time for talking; she just keeps right on walking
Carrying her home in two carrier bags
Chorus
In the all night cafe at a quarter past eleven
The same old man sitting there all alone
Looking at the world over the rim of his tea cup
Each tea last and hour, then she wanders home alone
Chorus
Have you seen the old man outside the seaman's mission
His memory fading like the medal ribbons that he wears
In our winter city, the rain cries a little pity
For one more forgotten hero in a world that doesn't care
Chorus
Chorus
STRONG WOMEN RULE US ALL WITH THEIR TEARS
(Brian McNeill)
There's a moment of your story that has always haunted me
When you set out in yon open boat to help the poor man flee
Was Charlie Stuart's future Already plain to see did you know he'd be a waster on his days
If you did, I'd give the world to find a single tear you cried
Chorus:
From the Cuillins tae the Carolinas you showed us one and all
The courage you could call from the tears that would not fall from your eyes
And after thirty years after all that you'd been through
Was the though of Bonny Charlie just a memory to rue
As you watched your husband putting on his coat of scarlet hue
To go and fight for German Geordie's crown
But you never tried to hide behind the dreams of days gone by
Chorus:
From the Cuillins tae the Carolinas you showed us one and all
The courage you could call from the tears that would not fall from your eyes
And there's times I think I see you when I find that kind of face
When a woman's independence has kept a woman's grace
Where confidence and pride refuse to know their place
Or hide behind the easy tricks of beauty
For to me your lights are like the chimes across the stormy skies
Chorus:
From the Cuillins tae the Carolinas you showed us one and all
The courage you could call from the tears that would not fall from your eyes
From the Cuillins tae the Carolinas you showed us one and all
The courage you could call from the tears that would not fall from your eyes
NOTES: Brian's intro to the song was: "200 years ago there was a woman named Flora McDonald. Very very famous in Scotland, she saved Bonnie Prince Charlie after the civil war of 1745. For that she is a real hero in Scotland. With no reason, because Bonnie Prince Charlie was a complete idiot. Something like Margaret Thatcher's son for example. Maybe worse. The song is a hymn to women's power." This is a kind of modern Jacobite song. The Cuillins are a mountain range on the Scottish Isle of Skye, where Charlie Stuart fled to by boat after the battle of Culloden. This trip and Flora McDonald are commemorated in the famous "Skye Boat Song". In her later life, after having spent several years in prison for helping Charlie flee, Flora emigrated with her husband to South Carolina. In 1776, her husband fought for the English forces. After the American victory, she returned to her native Skye and died there.
THE SUN IS BURNING
(Ian Campbell)
The sun is burning in the sky
Strands of clouds go slowly drifting by
In the park the dreamy bees are droning in the flowers among the trees
And the sun burns in the sky
Now the sun is in the west
Little babes lay down to take their rest
And the couples in the park are holding hands and waiting for the dark
And the sun is in the west
Now the sun is sinking low
Children playing know it's time to go
High above a spot appears a little blossom blooms and then draws near
And the sun is sinking low
Now the sun has come to earth
Shrouded in a mushroom cloud of death
Death comes in a blinding flash of hellish heat and leaves a smear of ash
And the sun has come to earth
Now the sun has disappeared
All that's left is darkness pain and fear
Twisted sightless wrecks of men go groping on their knees and cry in pain
And the sun has disappeared
SUNDAY DRIVER
Well I've been a Sunday driver now for many's a happy year
And I've never had my Morris-Miner in route to second gear
I can drive at 15 miles an hour on motor way or track
With my wife up front beside me and her mother in the back
There was me and my daddy and my daddy's mammy
And her sister's granny and four of her chums and Auntie Jean
In a crowd of fifty trippers you can always pick me out
For my "Don't blame me, I voted Tories" sticker on the boot
With my bunch of heather stickin' in my radiator grill
And my stick on transfer bullet holes and license for to kill
There was me and my daddy and my daddy's mammy
And her sister's granny and four of her chums and Auntie Peg
I've a hundred plastic pennants for to tell you where I've been
And my steering wheel is clad in simulated leopard skin
Up front from the rear view mirror hangs a plastic skeleton
And in the back a dog with eyes that flicker off and on
There was me and my daddy and my daddy's mammy
And her sister's granny and four of her chums and Auntie Mae
Now if you wonder how these weekly trips I can afford
It's because I'm on a stipend from the Scottish Tourist Board
You're supposed to enjoy the scenery the finest of it's kind
And that is why you have convoy following behind
There was me and my daddy and my daddy's mammy
And her sister's granny and four of her chums and Auntie Rose
Always drive as though my foot was resting on the brake
And I weave about the road just so you canna over take
I can get you so frustrated that you'll finish up in tears
And the sound of blaring motor horns is music to my ears
There was me and my daddy and my daddy's mammy
And her sister's granny and four of her chums and Auntie Gertrude
There was me and my daddy and my daddy's mammy
And her sister's granny and four of her chums—You're driving too fast!
SWEET THAMES FLOW SOFTLY
(Ewan MacColl)
I met my girl at Woolwich Pier, beneath the big cranes standing
And oh, the love I felt for her it passed all understanding
Took her sailing on the river, flow sweet river, flow
London town was mine to give her, Sweet Thames flow softly
Made the Thames into a crown, flow sweet river, flow
Made a brooch of Silver town, Sweet Thames flow softly
At London Yard I held her hand; at Blackwall Point I faced her
At the Isle of Dogs I kissed her mouth and tenderly embraced her
Heard the bells of Greenwich ringing, flow sweet river, flow
All the time I had was singing, Sweet Thames flow softly
Lighthouse Reach I gave her there, flow sweet river, flow
As a ribbon for her hair, Sweet Thames flow softly
From Putney Bridge to Nine Elms Reach, we cheek to cheek were dancing
Her necklace made of London Bridge, her beauty was enhancing
Kissed her once again at Wapping, flow sweet river, flow
After that there was no stopping, Sweet Thames flow softly
Gave her Hampton Court to twist, flow sweet river, flow
Into a bracelet for her wrist, Sweet Thames flow softly
But now alas the tide has changed, my love she has gone from me
And winter's frost has touched my heart and put a blight upon me
Creeping fog is on the river, flow sweet river, flow
Sun and moon and stars gone with her, Sweet Thames flow softly
Swift the Thames runs to the sea, flow sweet river, flow
Bearing ships and part of me, Sweet Thames flow softly
Copyright Stormking Music, Inc.