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lyrics

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

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from Stand Fast, Stand Steady, released October 1, 2005

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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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