Give me the silver and gold
Give me the silver and gold
Me hands must be clean and I'm picking the seam
Not black with the dust of the coal
Give me the silver and gold

Ah, My name is John Gates, I worked down the pit
Til they closed it a few years ago
It was all that I do, it was that all I knew
I was broken apart by the blow
Most of my friends, they were in the same boat
When they closed that old colliery down
And at fifty years old, I knew I was through
There was no work for me in the town

Give me the silver and gold
Give me the silver and gold
Me hands must be clean and I'm picking the seam
Not black with the dust of the coal
Give me the silver and gold

We still met at the club but it wasn't the same
The comradeships somehow had gone
I remember the time on that cold picket line
When our union bond was so strong
And I never would had thought I'll see grown men cry
They were hard men, proud and true
As they sipped at their beers, they fought back thee tears
And I shared their despairing too

Give me the silver and gold
Give me the silver and gold
Me hands must be clean and I'm picking the seam
Not black with the dust of the coal
Give me the silver and gold

All what was left for me was the thread
The thread of the silver and gold
An interest for years, I laid all my fears
And I gave it my whole heart and soul
Where an advert for a dressmaking class caught my eye
I enrolled as the only man there
And as my skill grew, I finally knew
I had something so precious to share

Give me the silver and gold
Give me the silver and gold
Me hands must be clean and I'm picking the seam
Not black with the dust of the coal
Give me the silver and gold

I laboured for months on my girl's wedding dress
Stitching dreams through the silk with the thread
Intricate patterns of silver and gold
All thoughts of the colliery, dead
And as we walked arm in arm down the aisle
She smiled as I caught her eye
That moment so rare, - it was too much to bear
This hard man started to cry

And as we walked arm in arm down the aisle
She smiled as I caught her eye
That moment so rare, - it was too much to bear
This hard man started to cry

Give me the silver and gold
Give me the silver and gold
Me hands must be clean and I'm picking the seam
Not black with the dust of the coal
Give me the silver and gold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFi7VYEM68M

From the writings of Bryn Phillips

Hope I caught every word