| [00:03.31] |
Come gather round friends |
| [00:05.81] |
And I'll tell you a tale of when the red iron pits ran plenty |
| [00:14.92] |
But the cardboard filled windows |
| [00:17.60] |
And old men on the benches |
| [00:21.53] |
Tell you now that the whole town is empty |
| [00:29.33] |
In the north end of town |
| [00:31.46] |
My own children are grown |
| [00:35.89] |
But I was raised on the other |
| [00:41.94] |
In the wee hours of youth |
| [00:44.44] |
My mother took sick |
| [00:48.80] |
And I was brought up by my brother |
| [00:55.86] |
The iron ore poured As the years passed the door |
| [01:01.60] |
The drag lines an the shovels they was a-humming 'til one day my brother |
| [01:09.33] |
Failed to come home |
| [01:13.51] |
The same as my father before him |
| [01:20.94] |
Well a long winters wait |
| [01:23.13] |
From the window I watched |
| [01:27.37] |
My friends they couldn't have been kinder |
| [01:32.36] |
And my schooling was cut |
| [01:34.86] |
As I quit in the spring |
| [01:39.35] |
To marry John Thomas a miner |
| [01:47.87] |
Oh the years passed again |
| [01:49.62] |
And the givin' was good |
| [01:53.17] |
With the lunch bucket filled every season |
| [01:59.25] |
What with three babies born |
| [02:02.00] |
The work was cut down |
| [02:06.59] |
To a half a days shift with no reason |
| [02:13.46] |
Then the shaft was soon shut |
| [02:15.65] |
And more work was cut |
| [02:19.70] |
And the fire in the air it felt frozen 'til a man come to speak |
| [02:28.44] |
And he said in one week |
| [02:32.86] |
That number eleven was closin' |
| [02:41.16] |
They complained in the east |
| [02:43.85] |
They are paying too high |
| [02:47.97] |
They say that your ore ain't worth digging |
| [02:54.21] |
That it's much cheaper down |
| [02:56.39] |
In the south American towns |
| [03:01.08] |
Where the miners work almost for nothing |
| [03:09.68] |
So the mining gates locked |
| [03:11.62] |
And the red iron rotted |
| [03:16.30] |
And the room smelled heavy from drinking |
| [03:22.41] |
Where the sad silent song |
| [03:24.98] |
Made the hour twice as long |
| [03:29.29] |
As I waited for the sun to go sinking |
| [03:35.33] |
I lived by the window |
| [03:37.52] |
As he talked to himself |
| [03:42.38] |
This silence of tongues it was building |
| [03:45.13] |
Then one mornings wake |
| [03:51.00] |
The bed it was bare |
| [03:55.30] |
The summer is gone |
| [04:04.16] |
The grounds turning cold |
| [04:08.40] |
The stores one by one they're a-foldin' |
| [04:11.53] |
My children will go |
| [04:17.33] |
As soon as they grow |
| [04:21.63] |
Well there ain't nothing here now to hold them |
