1. |
William Brown
03:06
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A nice young man was William Brown,
He worked for a wage in a northern town,
From eight in the morning 'til six at night,
He turned a wheel from left to right.
Keep that wheel a-turning, keep that wheel a-turning
Keep that wheel a-turning and do a little more each day.
One day the boss to William came
And said, "Look here, young what's your name,
"We're far from pleased with what you do,
"So turn that wheel or out you go."
Keep that wheel a-turning, keep that wheel a-turning
Keep that wheel a-turning and do a little more each day.
So William turned and made her run
Three times roung in place of one,
He turned so hard he soon was made
The Lord High Turner of his trade.
Keep that wheel a-turning, keep that wheel a-turning
Keep that wheel a-turning and do a little more each day.
As William turned with a saintly smile,
The product grew to such a pile;
They filled the room and the room next door
And overflowed to the basement floor.
Keep that wheel a-turning, keep that wheel a-turning
Keep that wheel a-turning and do a little more each day.
The nation heard of the wondrous tale,
His picture appeared in the Daily Mail
Tour busses ran excursions down,
Just to look at young William Brown.
Keep that wheel a-turning, keep that wheel a-turning
Keep that wheel a-turning and do a little more each day
But sad the sequel is to tell;
He turned out more than the boss could sell;
The market fell and the price went down,
Seven more days and they sacked young Brown.
Keep that wheel a-turning, keep that wheel a-turning
Keep that wheel a-turning and do a little more each day
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2. |
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Too old to wrangle or ride on the swing,
Go beat your triangle and curse everything.
If dirt was a kingdom then you'd be the king.
On the Goodnight Trail on the Loving Trail,
The old woman is lonesome tonight,
I hear your old french-harp blowing like a lone bawling calf,
It's a wonder that the wind don't tear off your skin
Get in there and blow out the light.
With your snake oils and your herbs and your liniments too,
You can do anything that the doctor can do.
Except make a cure for your own goddamned stew
On the Goodnight Trail on the Loving Trail,
The old woman is lonesome tonight,
I hear your old french-harp blowing like a lone bawling calf,
It's a wonder that the wind don't tear off your skin
Get in there and blow out the light.
.
The fire is all out and the coffee's all gone,
The boys are all up and they're raising the dawn.
You're sitting there all lost in some song.
On the Goodnight Trail on the Loving Trail,
The old woman is lonesome tonight,
I hear your old french-harp blowing like a lone bawling calf,
It's a wonder that the wind don't tear off your skin
Get in there and blow out the light.
I know that someday that I'll be the same,
Wearing an apron instead of a name.
Nothing can change it and no-one's to blame.
On the Goodnight Trail on the Loving Trail,
The old woman is lonesome tonight,
I hear your old french-harp blowing like a lone bawling calf,
It's a wonder that the wind don't tear off your skin
Get in there and blow out the light.
The desert's a book wrote in lizzards and sage
It's easy to feel like an old torn-out page.
All cracked and all faded with the colors of age.
On the Goodnight Trail on the loving Trail,
The old woman is lonesome tonight,
I hear your old french-harp blowing like a lone bawling calf,
It's a wonder that the wind don't tear off your skin
Get in there and blow out the light.
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3. |
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I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,
Alive as you or me
Says I, "But Joe, you're ten years dead,"
"I never died," says he
"I never died," says he
"The copper bosses killed you, Joe,
They shot you, Joe," says I.
"Takes more than guns to kill a man,"
Says Joe, "I didn't die,"
Says Joe, "I didn't die."
And standing there as big as life
And smiling with his eyes
Says Joe, "What they can never kill
Went on to organize,
Went on to organize."
"From San Diego up to Maine,
In every mine and mill,
Where working folks defend their rights
It's there you'll find Joe Hill,(4)
It's there you'll find him still.
I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,
Alive as you or me
Says I, "But Joe, you're ten years dead,"
"I never died," says he
"I never died," says he
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4. |
Dublin Lady
03:09
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It if wasn't for the ships that do sail, that do sail,
It if wasn't for the ships that do sail,
Dublin Lady wouldn't have to sit alone upon her stool,
It if wasn't for the ships that do sail.
If it wasn't for the butter tubs and coal all in the hold,
Dublin Lady wouldn't have to spend her nights alone and cold,
If it wasn't for the kegs of beer and cattle in the pen,
Dublin Lady wouldn't miss her sailor laddie now and then,
If it wasn't for the Irish Sea so narrow with no reef,
Dublin Lady wouldn't have to sit and weep all in her grief,
It's because of the Irish Sea so narrow with no reef,
It's because of those ships that do sail,
Dublin Lady has to sit and weep alone all in her grief,
It's because of those ships that do sail.
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5. |
Copper Kettle
03:33
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Get you a copper kettle
Get you a copper coil
Cover with new made corn mash
And never more you'll toil
Chorus:
You just lay there by the juniper
While the moon is bright
Watch them jugs a-fillin
In the pale moonlight
Build your fires of hickory
Hickory or ash or oak
Don't use no green or rotten wood
They'll catch you by the smoke
(Chorus)
My daddy he made whiskey
My granddaddy did too
We ain't paid no whiskey tax
Since Seventeen Ninety Two
(Chorus)
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6. |
Jimmy Brown The Newsboy
02:26
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I sell the morning paper, Sir, my name is Jimmy Brown
Everybody knows that I'm the newsboy of the town
You can hear me yelling "Morning Star", as I run along the street
I've got no hat upon my head, no shoes upon my feet
I sell the morning paper, Sir, my name is Jimmy Brown
Everybody knows that I'm the newsboy of the town
Never mind, Sir, how I look, don't look at me and frown
I sell the morning paper, Sir, my name is Jimmy Brown
I'm awful cold and hungry, Sir, my clothes are mighty thin
I wander 'bout from place to place, my daily bread to win
I sell the morning paper, Sir, my name is Jimmy Brown
Everybody knows that I'm the newsboy of the town
My father was a drunkard, Sir, I've heard my mother say
And I am helping my Mother, Sir, as I journey on my way
My mother always tells me, Sir, I've nothing in the world to lose
I'll get a place in Heaven, Sir, selling the "Gospel News"
I sell the morning paper, Sir, my name is Jimmy Brown
Everybody knows that I'm the newsboy of the town
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7. |
Deportee/Sierra Ingrata
05:00
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The crops are all in, the peaches are rotting, the oranges piled in their creosote dumps
They're flying us back to the Mexican border
To pay all our money just to wade back again.
Some of us are illegal and some are not wanted;
Our work contract's out and we have to move on
600 miles to that Mexican border
They chase us like outlaws, like thieves on the run
(chorus):
Goodbye to my Juan, good-bye Rosalita, adiós mis amigos, Jesus y Maria
You won't have a name when you ride the big airplane
All they will call you will be deportee.
The sky plane caught fire over Los Gatos canyon
A fireball of lightning that shook all the hills
Who are these friends now all scattered like dry leaves?
The radio says they are just deportees. (chorus)
We died in you hills, we died in your deserts
We died in your valleys and we died on your plains
We died 'neath your trees and we died in your bushes
Both sides of the river, we died just the same.
Is this the best way we can grow our big orchards?
Is this the best way we can grow our good fruit?
To fall like dry leaves and to rot on the topsoil
And be called by no name except deportees? (chorus).
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8. |
Goldwatch Blues
03:12
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I went up for my interview on the first day of July
Personnel man, he questioned me, almost made me cry
Made me fill in forms until I shook with fear
About the colour of my toilet paper and whether my cousin is queer
"Here's your gold watch and the shackles for your chain
And your piece of paper to say you left here sane"
"And if you've a son who wants a good career
Just get him to sign on the dotted line and work for fifty years"
He asked me how many jobs I'd had before
He nearly had a heart attack when I answered, "Four"
"Four jobs in twenty years, he said, oh this can never be"
"We only take on men who work here 'til they die"
"Here's your gold watch and the shackles for your chain
And your piece of paper to say you left here sane"
"And if you've a son who wants a good career
Just get him to sign on the dotted line and work for fifty years"
He took me outside to where the tombstones stand in line
"This is where we bury them, in quick-sand and in lime"
"And if you come to work for us, on this you must agree
That if you're going to die, you must do it during tea....... break"
"Here's your gold watch and the shackles for your chain
And your piece of paper to say you left here sane"
"And if you've a son who wants a good career
Just get him to sign on the dotted line and work for fifty years"
This story that you heard you may think rather queer
But it is the truth you'll be surprised to hear
The job that I wanted was not upon the board
I just wanted to take a broom and sweep the bloody floor
"Here's your gold watch and the shackles for your chain
And your piece of paper to say you left here sane"
"And if you've a son who wants a good career
Just get him to sign on the dotted line and work for fifty years"
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9. |
Drill Ye Tarriers
03:22
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Every morning at six o'clock
There's twenty tarriers a workin at the rock
The boss comes round and he says, "Keep still
And come down heavy on the cast iron drill."
Chorus:
So drill, ye tarriers, drill
And drill, ye tarriers, drill
Oh it's work all day for the sugar in your tay
Down behind the railway
So drill, ye tarriers, drill.
The boss's name was Jim McCann
By God he was a desperate man
One day a premature blast went off
And a mile in the sky went big Jim Goff.
[Chorus]
When next payday came around
Jim Goff, a dollar short was found
When asked the reason, came this reply
"You were docked for the time you were in the sky."
[Chorus]
Jim Goff was a good man down to the ground
And he married a woman who was six foot round
She baked corn bread and she baked it well
But she baked it hard as the hobs in hell.
[Chorus]
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10. |
Tall Buildings
02:57
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Someday, my baby, when I am a man
And others have taught me the best that they can
They'll sell me a suit then cut off my hair
And send me to work in tall buildings
So it's goodbye to the sunshine
Goodbye to the dew
Goodbye to the flowers
And goodbye to you
I'm off to the subway
I must not be late
I'm going to work in tall buildings
And when I retire
My life is my own
I made all the payments
It's time to go home
And wonder what happened
Betwixt and between
When I went to work in tall buildings
So it's goodbye to the sunshine
Goodbye to the dew
Goodbye to the flowers
And goodbye to you
I'm off to the subway
I must not be late
Going to work in tall buildings
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