The Black Hill

Words by Dave Boulton, music by Dave Boulton & Jeff Parton

Well the land is all pleasant and the fields are all green
And to tell you the truth it all seems like a dream
For we’ve lived in the darkness, but fifty years on
The darkness and dirt and the Black Hill are gone

CHORUS:
And it seems like a shadow has gone from my eyes
That I hadn’t noticed for most of my life
For the sun’s shining in through the windows and doors
Of Chain Row and Fan Row and the black hill’s no more

I saw it rise up as I grew from a boy
Till it blacked out the fields and it blocked out the sky
And in summer the dust hung like mist in the lane
And in winter the windows ran thick with black rain

As a man I’d be working before the sun rise
A fourteen hour shift in the davy’s dim light
And I’d stagger home weary and stinking of sweat
The hill always there and the sun always set

Then one day they said they were closing the mine
Soon diggers were crawling across the skyline
Now it’s only a memory, just an old name
For it’s back in the darkness from where it first came

Now I sit in my parlour looking over the top
And the fields are all green from Mill Hayes to Mow Cop
There’s sun in the gardens and sun in the yards
For the first time in years I’ve the sun in my heart

© 1994 His Worship & the Pig

Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *