Barrett's Song

She's sparkling clean, this new-born ship But one old thing is clear The orders they propose above We execue down here... We'll watch form here as up above They'll catch a whiff of glory This wonder ship may be brand new But it's the same old story... Stoke the fire in the hold As the men draw back... Feed the heat in the hold As the men draw back And the dust of the coal in the air is black And a trickle of sweat runs down your back... And what are the boys from the midlands doing here? Coal it is that makes the steam That runs the machines that run the world That sends the men below the ground To mine the coal Each day... From Leicestershire and Nottingham Us lads who worked down in the pit Knew if you got above the ground You'd save your soul Some way... Get out of the pit And westward I knew I could run And ship out to sea and there my new life was begun... And the screws are turning at seventy-one... It became my dream to go out to sea... Further out from the mine you couldn't be... But, born to the coal, there's no place for you elsewhere You trade a life of dank and gloom To shovel in the boiler room But now your seven decks below A lady's dainty feet... And nothing has changed There's nothing a miner can do The pit and your mates Turned into the hold and the crew... And the screws are turnin at seventy-two... Faster and faster we watch as we gain ever more Seventy-three, and too soon it is seventy-four... For a record speed I belive we strive! For the maiden ship that's too hard to drive If you push her faster than seventy-five. That is the truth I swear!