The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #119173 Message #4089758
Posted By: RTim
24-Jan-21 - 06:02 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Old King Cole
Subject: ADD: Old King Coal (John Kirkpatrick)
What about the alternative.......
Tim Radford
OLD KING COAL (John Kirkpatrick)
Under the ground lay Old King Coal He lay most peacefully He ruled in might and splendour There was none so grand as he But men came along to tunnel him out And topple him from his throne The tore him down to steal his crown For the power in the old black stone
(Chorus) There's fire in the heart of Old King Coal There's the strength of centuries in his soul There's a power that grows where his black blood flows So here's to Old King Coal
So they scratched him, hacked him, and harried him out They ripped him from his bed And they blasted his bones asunder They'd sworn to see him dead Then they carried him out to the sun's bright light Which blinded him in the eye And the blood did drain from every vein Until they'd drained him dry
(Chorus)
Then they cracked his bones on the grinding stones How gleefully they did grind Oh how they pulverized him Turned him to dust so fine Then they sprayed him into the furnace fire And burned him in the air With a mighty blast they burned him fast As he prayed his final prayer
(Chorus)
And his soul cried out with a final song As he reached his final hour And his heart it burst with singing So mighty was the power And he sang the water into steam And the steam mnade the wheels fly round And the song ran on both pure and strong Till the wires hummed with its sound
(Chorus)
Out of the darkness there comes light Out of the earth comes fire Out of the cold comes comfort As his bones go blazing higher And his soul flies out through the air we breathe And down on the earth we tread That humankind may not forget That Old King Coal is dead