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lyrics

WILLIAM'S TALE

Now this is the town where I was born
It's the town where I live now
There is many a tale to be told of this place
I will tell one to you now
In Nineteen-O-One I entered the world
The year that Victoria died
My mother died delivering me
How my father must have cried

As a young lad of twelve fresh out of school
I spent my first day down the mine
And it seemed like the hell of a dark prison cell
But Lord knows I'd committed no crime
The West Stanley Disaster I remember it well
A hundred and sixty-eight lost their lives
We were little more than slaves then
Growing old before our time

When the Fourteen-Eighteen Great War came
My father was among the first to go
He joined the Durham Light Infantry
And we were proud of the medals he won
Pozzieres, Mons, Ypres (Wipers), Cambrai and the Somme
He fought in all the major campaigns
But when they shipped him back home at the end of it
He wasn't the father that we had once known

In Twenty-Six the General Strike
Saw all the men out on the streets
From Jarrow they marched in Thirty-Six
But all they got was blood on their feet
Half a century on it all happened again
It seems that some things never change
Back then Jarrow cried now Sunderland has died
And strikes are still all the rage

When the Second World War came along
In Nineteen-Thirty-Nine
My son got a note from the government
Saying "We need your services son for a while"
Then they sent me a note at the end of it all
Saying "Sir your son did fine
Now he's buried in North Africa
You can visit him from time to time"

Now I sit here at home with my plaque on the wall
It's not much to show for my life
Of fifty-odd years of toil down the mine
It's been a long haul of struggle and strife
And if the Tories get back into power again
It's going to drive me insane
And now that the Eighties have become the 'Haties'
There's no future left for the bairns of today

(Gary Miller)

credits

from Timeless Street [Bonus Track Edition], released March 1, 1992
Gary Miller - vocals, acoustic guitar
Glenn Miller - accordions, piano
Mick Tyas - bass
Kevin Wilson - bouzouki, mandolin
Simon Chantler - fiddle
Piers Burgoyne - drums
Paul Carless - harmonica

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The Whisky Priests Durham, UK

The Whisky Priests (1985-2002) was founded by twin brothers, Gary & Glenn Miller (“the Joe Strummer and Mick Jones of Folk Music”). The band was internationally renowned for its energetic live shows, released a number of critically acclaimed albums, toured extensively and developed a worldwide cult following. The band reunited to tour in 2018 and release a 12-disc Complete Discography CD Box-set. ... more

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