Lyr Req: Big River (Jimmy Nail)

Subject: big river
From: GUEST,skippy
Date: 30 Mar 02 - 06:05 AM

Lyrics please :- Big River by Jimmy Nail Ta

Subject: Lyr Add: BIG RIVER (Jimmy Nail)
From:
Date: 30 Mar 02 - 09:39 AM

Found it here:Jimmy Nail Lyrics

Big River
words and music by Jimmy Nail

walking on cobble stone, little bits of skin and bone
jumping on the tram car for a ride
I can remember then, I was just a boy of ten
hanging out along the old quayside
not all the capstans and the cargo boats
and stevadores are gone
to where all the old ships go
but memories just like the seas live on
 
that was when coal was king,
the river a living thing
and I was just a boy, but it was mine,
the coaly tyne
 
this was a big river,
I want you all to know that I was proud
this was a big river, but that was long ago,
that's not now, that's not now
 
my father was a working man,
he earned our living with his hands
he had to cross the river every day
he picked up a union card out of the Neptune yard
mouths to feed and the bills to pay
then came a time for him to sail across the sea
and far away
finally when the war was won
you brought him home and home he stayed
 
and when his days were done, under a golden sun
you carried him to where he longed to be,
back to the sea
 
this was a big river,
I want you all to know that I was proud
this was a big river, but that was long ago,
that's not now
 
the Neptune was the last to go,
I heard it on my radio
and then they played the latest number one
but what do they do all day?
and what are they supposed to say?
what does a father tell his son?
if you you believed that there's a bond between our future
and our past
then try to hold on to what we had,
we build them strong, we built to last
 
'cause this is a mighty town,
it's built upon solid ground
and everything they tried so hard to kill,
we will rebuild
 
this was a big river
I want you all to know that I was proud
this was a big river, but that was long ago,
that's not now
this is a big river,
and in my heart I know it will rise again
the river will rise again

Subject: Lyr Add: BIG RIVER (Johnny Cash)
From: Tiger
Date: 30 Mar 02 - 10:13 AM

I suspect this is the one.

BIG RIVER
Words and music by Johnny Cash
As recorded by Johnny Cash as a single for Sun Records, 1958.

Now, I taught the weepin' willow how to cry,
And I showed the clouds how to cover up a clear blue sky,
And the tears that I cried for that woman are gonna flood you, Big River,
And I'm gonna sit right here until I die.

I met her accident'ly in St. Paul, Minnesota,
And it tore me up ev'ry time I heard her drawl, southern drawl.
Then I heard my dream went back downstream, cavortin' in Davenport,
And I followed you, Big River, when you called.

INSTRUMENTAL BREAK

Then you took me to St. Louie later on, down the river.
A freighter said: "She's been here, but she's gone, boy, she's gone."
I found her trail in Memphis, but she just walked up the bluff,
She raised a few eyebrows and then she went on down alone.

Now, won't you bat it down by Baton Rouge, River Queen; roll it on.
Take that woman on down to New Orleans, New Orleans.
Go on, I've had enough; dump my blues down in the gulf.
She loves you, Big River, more than me.

Now, I taught the weepin' willow how to cry, cry, cry,
And I showed the clouds how to cover up a clear blue sky.
And the tears that I cried for that woman are gonna flood you, Big River.
And I'm gonna sit right here until I die.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: big river
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 30 Mar 02 - 10:35 AM

No, Tiger - it's the Jimmy Nail one about the Tyne, which Bob Fox sings.

Jimmy Nail is mostly famous in the UK for Tyneside-based drama like being Oz in "Auf Wiedersehen Pet", and "Crocodile Shoes" and "Spender" although I treasure his role as the man who ran amok with a JCB in "Blott on the Landscape"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: big river
From: Tiger
Date: 30 Mar 02 - 11:35 AM

Sorry, skippy. A knee jerk reaction (or maybe just jerk) :-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: big river
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 30 Mar 02 - 11:47 AM

Tiger

The Johnny Cash song may not have been the song Skippy was asking about, but it's a good song anyway.

Was "(Minnesota)" in the original (Johnny Cash) song, or did you provide the additional unrhyming info for people who don't know that Minneapolis / St Paul is in Minnesota?

(Most English people probably don't unless they've heard Bob Walser or Garrison Keillor).

Kitty

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: big river
From: Tiger
Date: 30 Mar 02 - 01:41 PM

Yes, he sings "Minnesota", but he sings it kinda parenthetically, if that's possible.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: big river
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 30 Mar 02 - 01:54 PM

Two good songs here.
A possible correction to the Jimmy Nail song- 1st verse, line 5: NOW all the capstans...are gone.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: big river
From: GUEST,skippy
Date: 02 Apr 02 - 04:50 PM

thanks one and all, Dicho, yes it is NOW. Thanks for your contribution and time Tiger. Herga Kitty thanks and see you soon, we do know each other and do meet at a few events per annum Regards all, skippy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Big River (Jimmy Nail)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 16 Dec 10 - 12:00 PM

When I first read Tiger's comment that Johnny Cash sings the word Minnesota "kinda parenthetically," I took it to be facetious, but on re-reading the lyrics, I can see exactly why he put the word in parentheses.

It calls attention to the fact that the rhyming word in that line is "St. Paul." It rhymes with "drawl" in the next line.

Cash repeats the pattern in the next verse. "Later on" rhymes with "she's gone"—and so Tiger puts the words "down the river" in parentheses for the same reason.

Also notice that "Minnesota" exactly matches the rhythm of "down the river" although it doesn't quite match "southern drawl" or "boy, she's gone," which is what you might expect.

Brilliant. It's a very unusual and intricately planned metrical/rhyming structure by Cash, and an unusual but appropriate way to notate it by Tiger.

This analysis might seem kinda far-fetched if you only read the lyrics, but I think it will become clearer if you listen to it. There's a video at YouTube of a TV appearance by a very young-looking Johnny Cash.