Ribbon Road lyrics
Coal in the Sea
Miners always had coal to burn - in the Strike they had none. They had to get what they could from spoil tips and from the sea - three teenagers, Darren & Paul Holmes and Paul Womersley, died picking coal... Now the coal is still washing up on the beach - all that is left of the once thriving coal industry in the North East, the community washed up, just like the sea coal.
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Coal in the Sea
Coal in the sea, that's all we can be
Waves pushing over wor heads
Just bits of black in the gold and the slack
Putting the baby to bed
Put the baby to bed now
It's all in your head now
Put the baby to sleep
Coal in the sea, edges made soft
From rolling and rattling around
Washed by the tide that breaks a man's pride
Lost with no ear to the ground
Hush, don't make a sound now
It's all in the ground now
It's all in the ground
Coal in the sea is no friend to me
Bringing it back to the edge
Butter and jam or tinned meat for tea
That's if we have any bread
If we have any bread now
Not already dead now
If we have any bread
Coal in the sea, lying for free
Left to the mermaids and stones
Nobody knows what people will see
Nobody knows the way home
Don't know the way home now
We're left on wor own now
Don't know the way home
Coal in the sea now it's all we can be
In summer it sticks in your toes
When your paddling and laughing
And letting it go for the kids
Put the baby to bed
Put the baby to bed now
It's already said now
Put the baby to sleep
Put the baby to bed now
It's already said now
Put the baby to sleep
Put the baby to sleep
We're just coal in the sea
© Brenda Heslop 2014
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"I took the disc home and put it on the CD player and I've got to tell you something. I don't think I can remember a time when I was so completely engrossed, impressed, entranced, I do believe that this song is very special indeed - from the CD Roadside Dreams by Ribbon Road, the beautiful voice of Brenda Heslop - I just think this is simply amazing."
Mike Harding
"Songwriter Brenda Heslop has a secret, and she will whisper it in your ear: but a shocking secret, and its effect on you is much greater than you expect from a whisper. True, Brenda's secrets are in song, but the effect of her quiet vocals and harmonies with husband Geoff whacks you in the lughole and makes you pay attention."
The Living Tradition
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