Irish Songbook Blog » Ewan MacColl

The Big Hewer

flo — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:00:54 +0000

[a] Out of the dirt and [D] darkness I was [E7] born, go [a] down!
[a] Out of the hard black [e] coalface I was [a] torn, go [E7] down!
[C] Kicked on the world and the earth split open
[E7] Crawled through a [a] crack where the [G] rock was [a] broken
[d] Burrowed a [a] hole, [d] away in the [E7] coal, go [a] down!

In a cradle of coal in the darkness I was laid, go down!
Down in the dirt and darkness I was raised, go down!
Cut me teeth on a five-foot timber
Held up the roof with my little finger
Started me time away in the mine, go down!

On the day that I was born I was six feet tall, go down!
And the very next day I learned the way to haul, go down!
On the third day worked at board and piller
Worked on the fourth as a long-wall filler
Getting me steam up, hewing the seam, go down!

I’m the son of the son of the son of a collier’s son, go down!
Coal dust runs in the veins where the blood should run, go down!
Five steel ribs and an iron backbone
Teeth that can bite through rock and blackstone
Working me time, away in the mine, go down!

Three hundred years I hewed at the coal by hand, go down!
In the pits of Durham and East Northumberland, go down!
Been gassed and burned and blown asunder
Buried more times than I can number
Getting the coal, away in the hole, go down!

I’ve scrabbled and picked at the face where the roof was low, go down!
Crawled in the seams where only a mole could go, go down!
In the thin-cut seams I’ve ripped and redded
Where even the rats are born bow-legged
Winning the coal, away in the hole, go down!

I’ve worked in the Hutton, the Plessey, the Brockwell Seam, go down!
The Bensham, the Busty, the Beaumont, the Marshall Green, go down!
I’ve lain on me back in the old three-quarter
Up to the chin in stinking water
Hewing the coal, away in the hole, go down!

In the northern pits I’ve sweated and earned me pay, go down!
Toiled in the worn-out drift mines night and day, go down!
Where the anthracite is hard and shining
I’ve tried me hand at the hard-rock mining
I dug me a hole away in the coal, go down!

Out of the dirt and darkness I was born, go down!
Out of the hard black coal-face I was torn, go down!
Lived in the shade of the high pit heap
I’m still down there where the seams are deep
Digging a hole, away in the coal, go down!

Ballad Of Accounting

flo — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:23:34 +0000

[d] In the morning we [g] built the [d] city
In the [F] afternoon walked [A] through its streets
[F] Evening saw us [C] leaving
[d] We wandered through our days as if they would never end
[d] All of us imagined we had endless time to [A] spend
We [d] hardly saw the crossroads and [g] small attention gave
To [d] landmarks on the journey from the [g] cradle to the [d] grave,
[A] cradle to the [d] grave, [A] cradle to the [d] grave

Did you learn to dream in the morning?
Abandon dreams in the afternoon?
Wait without hope in the evening?
Did you stand there in the traces and let ‘em feed you lies?
Did you trail along behind them wearing blinkers on your eyes?
Did you kiss the foot that kicked you, did you thank them for their scorn?
Did you ask for their forgiveness for the act of being born, act of being born, act of being born?

Did you alter the face of the city?
Make any change in the world you found?
Or did you observe all the warnings?
Did you read the trespass notices, did you keep off the grass?
Did you shuffle up the pavements just to let your betters pass?
Did you learn to keep your mouth shut, were you seen but never heard?
Did you learn to be obedient and jump to at a word, jump to at a word, jump to at a word?

Did you demand any answers?
The who and the what and the reason why?
Did you ever question the setup?
Did you stand aside and let ‘em choose while you took second best?
Did you let ‘em skim the cream off and give to you the rest?
Did you settle for the shoddy and did you think it right
To let ‘em rob you right and left and never make a fight,
never make a fight, never make a fight?

What did you learn in the morning?
How much did you know in the afternoon?
Were you content in the evening?
Did they teach you how to question when you were at the school?
Did the factory help you, were you the maker or the tool?
Did the place where you were living enrich your life and then
Did you reach some understanding of all your fellow men, all your fellow men, all your fellow men?

Irish Songbook Blog » Ewan MacColl

The Big Hewer

Ballad Of Accounting

Ballad Of Accounting

Black & White

Sings the Songs of Ewan Mccoll