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    Includes unlimited streaming of Bloody Well Everything! (The Complete Works 1985-2000) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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about

Originally released in 1995 on ‘Bleeding Sketches’ [WPTC3/WPTCD13]

lyrics

MY FATHER WORKED ON SHIPS

My father worked on ships
They spelked his hands
Dusted his eyes his face his lungs

Those eyes that watered by the Wear
Stared out to sea to see the world
In a tear of water at the drop
Of an old cloth cap

For thirty weary winters he grafted
Through the snow and the wild winds
Of loose change

He was proud of those ships he built
He was proud of the men he built with
His dreams sailed with them
The hull was his skull
The cargo his brains
My father worked on ships

Those eyes that watered by the Wear
Stared out to sea to see the world
In a tear of water at the drop
Of an old cloth cap

His hopes rose and sank
In the shipwrecked streets
Of Sunderland
And I look at him now
This father of mine who worked on ships
And I feel proud of his skeletal frame
This coastline
That moulded me
And my own sweet dreams

He sits in his retiring chair
Dozing into the night
There are dreams in his head
And I wish him more love yet

Sail with me
Breathe in me
Breathe that rough sea air old man
And cough it up

Rage rage against the dying
Of this broken-backed town
The spirit of its broken-backed ships
My father worked on ships

Those eyes that watered by the Wear
Stared out to sea to see the world
In a tear of water at the drop
Of an old cloth cap

Those eyes that watered by the Wear
Stared out to sea to see the world
In a tear of water at the drop
Of an old cloth cap

(lyrics: Keith Armstrong / music: Gary Miller)

credits

from Bloody Well Everything! (The Complete Works 1985​-​2000), released October 15, 2018
Gary Miller - vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, banjo
Glenn Miller - keyboards
Mick Tyas - bass, backing vocals
Nick Buck - drums
Fred Purser - electric guitar

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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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