Barrett's Song

BARRETT
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!