The Big Hewer

out of the dirt and darkness, i was born
go down
out of the hard black coal face i was torn
go down
kicked on the world and the earth split open
crawled through a crack where the rug was broken
burrow the hole away in the cold
go down
in the 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 5 foot timber
held up the roof with me little finger
started me time away in the mine
go down
on the day i was born i was 6 foot tall
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and the very next day i learned the way to haul
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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 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