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Stand Fast, Stand Steady

by Gary Miller & Ralf Weihrauch

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1.
Pitman Tom 03:43
PITMAN TOM Well I know of this little old gadgie You can call him Pitman Tom With lots of bairns and an indomitable thirst How could the bugger go wrong? Not so tall, bow-legged an' all He looked a little bit frail But stick a tanner in his pocket And he was ready for his ale He was down the pit at the age of nine His brother carried him to work And the first thing he could remember Was sitting in the dark Now the coal dust made him thirsty And inspired him to verse So he sold his songs so that all night long He could satisfy his thirst His glory was his pen His muse was a mug of ale His wit was as sharp as a knife in the dark How could the bugger fail? His legs were made of rubber His hands were made of clay His throat was made of sawdust But his words were made to stay One day he went to the co-op But ended up in Durham Gaol He nicked a pair of stockings And the judge refused him bail He said "Tom why did you nick 'em?" And he answered in reply "I'll never see another pair of bow-legged leggings Until the day I die" But now the bugger's gone And buried in his grave And all the folks from 'round about Never recognise his name But if he was alive today He'd write them all a song About that silly old gadgie By the name of Pitman Tom (Gary Miller) Copyright ©1994 Gary Miller / Whippet Records
2.
THE SANDGATE LASS’S LAMENT I was a young maiden truly And I lived in Sandgate Street I thought to marry a good man 
To keep me warm at neet Some good like body, 
Some canny body To be with me at noon 
But last I married a keel man 
And my good days are done He's an ugly body, a bubbly body 
An ill-fed ugly loon But I have married a keelman 
And my good days are done I thought to marry a Parson 
To hear me say my prayers 
But I have married a Keelman 
And he kicks me down the stairs I Thought to marry a Dyer 
To dye my apron blue 
But I have married a Keelman 
And sair he makes me rue 
He's an ugly body, a bubbly body 
An ill-fed ugly loon But I have married a keelman 
And my good days are done I thought to marry a Joiner 
To make me chair and stool But I have married a Keelman And he's a perfect fool I thought to marry a sailor To bring be sugar and tea But I have married a Keelman And that he lets me see He's an ugly body, a bubbly body 
An ill-fed ugly loon But I have married a keelman 
And my good days are done (Trad. arr. Weihrauch / Miller)
3.
BELLINGHAM BOAT / LAMBSKINNET [Instrumental] (Trad. arr. Weihrauch / Miller)
4.
Lament 05:01
LAMENT I cannot get to my love; she’s far from me Steering a new course on life’s stormy sea Now I stand alone with a tear in my e’e No boatman will carry her back home to me For I was heartless, ignorant, blind and obscene I had more than the whole world but I could not see Until I threw it away, I chopped down the tree Of a life we’d created from so precious a seed Too late for forgiveness, to be sorry, to plead Her love has expired, her heart has been freed And deserted me cruelly in the time of my need To punish me justly for my selfish greed Oh but now I am moving, at last I am free From the torment and torture she rained down on me I will never forget, I will never be free Of regret and remorse until the day that I d’e (Lyrics: Gary Miller, adapted from the traditional ‘The Waters Of Tyne’ / Tune: ‘The Waters of Tyne’ – Traditional)
5.
The Colliery 03:14
THE COLLIERY The pit where I worked was built in Eighteen-Ten And it's claimed the lives of many good men Like rats in a hole we crawled underground Digging for coal at the colliery I had long shifts to work each day And I worked like a slave for a poor man's pay We hated our boss because he worked us hard For a pittance to keep our families And the curse of God was on our lives Though we prayed to Him for better times We learned to cry and we learned to die Down at the colliery I had a wife and six bairns to feed We paid the price of rich men's greed I sweated and toiled in that unholy black hell Feeding the fires of Britain's industry And we searched for joy in our toil As our lungs filled with dust and soot and soil We laughed and cried we prayed and died Down at the colliery We were servants to masters of the land They abused our humanity but they used our hands They could own our lives but not our souls For we were put on God's earth to go below it for coal This land was built by men of steel This land once scarred has now been healed The pits have gone, time has moved on From the days when men toiled where the sun never shone And the curse of God was on our lives Though we prayed to Him for better times We learned to cry and we learned to die Down at the colliery (Gary Miller) Copyright © 1987 Gary Miller / Whippet Records
6.
STAND FAST, STAND STEADY In the market place in Hexham Town Stand fast my boys stand steady With hearts of oak we’ll stand our ground Stand resolute and ready 5000 strong flock to our cause Stand fast my boys stand steady Against the unjust Militia Laws Stand resolute and ready Proud banners waving in the sun To sound of horn and beat of drum Against the bayonet and the gun Stand fast my boys stand steady We love our King but will not yield Stand fast my boys stand steady To die for him on foreign field Stand resolute and ready Know that the French are not our foe Stand fast my boys stand steady To France and death we will not go Stand resolute and ready Proud banners waving in the sun To sound of horn and beat of drum Against the bayonet and the gun Stand fast my boys stand steady In the Moot Hall magistrates debate Stand fast my boys stand steady Read the Riot Act; decide our fate Stand resolute and ready The redcoats face us in the square Stand fast my boys stand steady They mock “come charge us if you dare!” Stand resolute and ready Proud banners waving in the sun To sound of horn and beat of drum Against the bayonet and the gun Stand fast my boys stand steady Our staves and clubs will serve us yet Stand fast my boys stand steady Against musket ball and bayonet Stand resolute and ready A shot rings out, a redcoat falls Stand fast my boys stand steady All hell breaks loose in answering call Stand resolute and ready The Hexham Butchers fired their guns They broke our ranks and smashed our drum From ball and bayonet we did run Their response proved swift and deadly Men, women, children are no more Stand fast my boys stand steady Innocent blood is ill to shed Stand resolute and ready Now let the rain come pouring down Stand fast my boys stand steady To wash the blood from this sad town Stand resolute and ready We thought that we would overcome They blew us all to kingdom come With our last breath the words were gone Stand fast my boys stand steady (Gary Miller)
7.
THE GOLDEN EAGLE / THE WONDER HORNPIPE [Instrumental] (Trad. arr. Weihrauch / Miller)
8.
Easington 05:44
EASINGTON We prayed for a new day dawning On a village shrouded in grey Where people spent their dole lives Waiting day by day Waiting oh so patiently For good luck to come along But that was just like finding gold On the streets of Easington Little bairns with mucky faces Playing in the colliery streets Remind us of our childhood years So innocent, so sweet Full of joy and happiness Before the pain ahead Before our hopes were shattered Before our dreams lay dead But let us not hang our sorrows On the gates of misery We'll get the bairns up laughing And we'll sing We'll show there is joy in Easington From the outer villages To the beaches coaly black Shadow-folk by dusk and dawn Stoop to fill a sack For what had been their livelihood Came to lay their land to waste But there were no inner cities rising By this slag-strewn the coast But let us not drown our sorrows On the dregs of misery We'll get the lasses drinking And we'll sing We'll show there is joy in Easington From the broken windows Of the houses in the night You can see the pit-head pulley wheel Silhouetted by moonlight Now the land is rolling green Its coal town days are done The tide has turned, the tide runs clean Beneath a brand new sun But let us not dwell on sorrow Nor think of misery We'll get the old folks dancing And we'll sing We'll show there is joy in Easington (Gary Miller) Copyright © 1992 Gary Miller /
9.
Dol-Li-A 03:50
Dol-Li-A It's fresh I come down Sandgate Street Dol-Li, Dol-Li My best friends here to meet Dol-Li-A Dol-Li, de-dillen-dol, Dol-Li, Dol-Li Dol-Li, de-dillen-dol, Dol-Li-A Dolly Coxon' pawned her shirt Dol-Li, Dol-Li To ride upon a baggage cart Dol-Li-A Dol-Li, de-dillen-dol, Dol-Li, Dol-Li Dol-Li, de-dillen-dol, Dol-Li-A The green cuffs have gone away Dol-Li, Dol-Li That will be a crying day Dol-Li-A Dol-Li, de-dillen-dol, Dol-Li, Dol-Li Dol-Li, de-dillen-dol, Dol-Li-A The black cuffs are coming in Dol-Li, Dol-Li That will make the lasses sing Dol-Li-A Dol-Li, de-dillen-dol, Dol-Li, Dol-Li Dol-Li, de-dillen-dol, Dol-Li-A (Trad. arr. Weihrauch / Miller)
10.
WHERE THE VIOLETS GROW I remember days with you When I was a boy And you could do most anything With such ease and joy Then came the day your body failed And your breath came slow But I remember how you once walked Where the violets grow Tortured, humiliated Hard to bear for a man Forgotten by the Coal Board For whom you carried the can Housebound to an iron lung Your skeletal frame laid low No more to walk these sacred lands Where the violets grow Your one true precious Violet Never left your side Though the pain grew worse with every curse And all you could do was cry Until your time was finally come And at last you could let go But in my mind you walk for evermore Where the violets grow The day that you were laid to rest Seemed a blesséd relief After thirty years of a living hell There’d already been too much grief Her burden gone she carries on Her feet like bricks on snow Until you both tread softly Where the violets grow For I see you there together Where the violets grow Walk in peace, rest in peace Where the violets grow (Gary Miller)
11.
KEEP YOUR FEET STILL GEORDIE HINNY Oh Geordie and Bob Johnson Well they both lay in one bed In a little lodging house down by the shore And they hadn't have been an hour asleep When a kick from Geordie’s foot Made him waken up to roar instead of snore So keep your feet still Geordie Hinny Let’s be happy through the night For I may not be so happy through the day So give me that bit comfort Keep your feet still Geordie lad And don’t drive my bonnie dreams away Well I dreamt there was a dancing held And Mary Clark was there And I thought we tripped it lightly round the floor And I pressed her heaving breast to mine Whilst waltzing round the room Well that’s more than I’ve dare ever do before So keep your feet still Geordie Hinny Let’s be happy through the night For I may not be so happy through the day So give me that bit comfort Keep your feet still Geordie lad And don’t drive my bonnie dreams away Well do you know the lad she gans with They call him Jimmy Green And I thought he’d try to spoil our bit of fun Well I dreamt I nailed him heavy And I blacked the big fool’s eyes If I’d slept it’s hard to tell what I’d have done So keep your feet still Geordie Hinny Let’s be happy through the night For I may not be so happy through the day So give me that bit comfort Keep your feet still Geordie lad And don’t drive my bonnie dreams away Well I dreamt I took her home that night Content we went along And I kissed her lips a hundred times or more And I wished the road would never end So happy like was I I could walk a thousand miles with Mary there So keep your feet still Geordie Hinny Let’s be happy through the night For I may not be so happy through the day So give me that bit comfort Keep your feet still Geordie lad And don’t drive my bonnie dreams away Well I dreamt Jim Green had left the town And left his love to me And I thought the house was furnished with the best And I dreamt I just had left the church With Mary by my side When your clumsy feet completely spoiled the rest So keep your feet still Geordie Hinny Let’s be happy through the night For I may not be so happy through the day So give me that bit comfort Keep your feet still Geordie lad And don’t drive my bonnie dreams away (Trad. arr. Weihrauch / Miller)
12.
Bookend 06:26
BOOKEND This is where the book ends This is the final word On all the things that I have seen and heard Do you recall the opening pages Before those youthful hopes and dreams all fled The manuscript was stained where desperate fingers bled Now it makes my heart glad To be able to walk away from it all I’ve had my pride and now I’ll take my fall This is where the river flows into a shoreless sea To meet an endless skyway to be free This is when the clock stops That used to tick so fast Through all those times we knew could never last I’ve squandered all good company It’s time now to seek it out And discover what living’s all about This is where the cock crows To herald a new dawn Amidst this golden field of ripening corn This is where the river flows into a shoreless sea To meet an endless skyway to be free This is where the book ends Its tale is said and done New ones are awaiting the road goes on They say everyone has at least one book in them If this is mine then let it stand With its flaws and holes delivered by my hand This is where the song ends Maybe others will be sung With free reign for emotions deep to run This is where the river flows into a shoreless sea To meet an endless skyway to be free (Gary Miller)

about

"From Durham to Dorsten" - England meets Germany to create a unique acoustic duo. Songwriter of folk punk pioneers The Whisky Priests teams up with German Ralf Weihrauch to perform a selection of new songs, some updated acoustic versions of "old hits" specially selected from The Whisky Priests' early catalogue, and a few North East of England traditional songs and tunes.

credits

released October 1, 2005

Gary Miller - lead & backing vocals, acoustic guitar, mandolin.
Ralf Weihrauch - lead & backing vocals, accordion, whistle, bodhran.

Recorded at Lager 1 Studio, Castrop Rauxel, Germany, 20-22 June 2005.
Produced, engineered and mixed by Markus Seidel.
Tracks 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12 written & composed by Gary Miller.
Tracks 2, 3, 7, 9, 11 trad. arr. Weihrauch/Miller.
All tracks arranged by Gary Miller & Ralf Weihrauch.
Copyright Control / PRS/MCPS

Photography by Ralf Pieper.

℗ & © 2005 Whippet Records

WPTCD21


Although CD copies of the album are currently unavailable via Bandcamp, it is still in stock via the following online stores:
Amazon: www.amazon.co.uk/Stand-Fast-Steady-Miller-Weihrauch/dp/B002EUI948
CDBaby: www.cdbaby.com/cd/garyralf

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Gary Miller Durham, UK

Gary Miller first rose to international prominence with folk-punk/rock pioneers The Whisky Priests (1985-2002), founded with his twin brother Glenn - “the Joe Strummer and Mick Jones of Folk Music". He now performs as a solo artist and with his new band 'Gary Miller's Big Picture' whose debut album is coming soon. ... more

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