Barrett's Song

She's sparkling clean, this new-born ship
 But one old thing is clear
 The orders they propose above
 We execue down here...
 We'll watch form here as up above
 They'll catch a whiff of glory
 This wonder ship may be brand new
 But it's the same old story...
 Stoke the fire in the hold
 As the men draw back...
 Feed the heat in the hold
 As the men draw back
 And the dust of the coal in the air is black
 And a trickle of sweat runs down your back...
 And what are the boys from the midlands doing here?
 Coal it is that makes the steam
 That runs the machines that run the world
 That sends the men below the ground
 To mine the coal
 Each day...
 From Leicestershire and Nottingham
 Us lads who worked down in the pit
 Knew if you got above the ground
 You'd save your soul
 Some way...
 Get out of the pit
 And westward I knew I could run
 And ship out to sea and there my new life was begun...
 And the screws are turning at seventy-one...
 It became my dream to go out to sea...
 Further out from the mine you couldn't be...
 But, born to the coal, there's no place for you elsewhere
 You trade a life of dank and gloom
 To shovel in the boiler room
 But now your seven decks below
 A lady's dainty feet...
 And nothing has changed
 There's nothing a miner can do
 The pit and your mates
 Turned into the hold and the crew...
 And the screws are turnin at seventy-two...
 Faster and faster we watch as we gain ever more
 Seventy-three, and too soon it is seventy-four...
 For a record speed I belive we strive!
 For the maiden ship that's too hard to drive
 If you push her faster than seventy-five.
 That is the truth
 I swear!