The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #5905   Message #2397476
Posted By: GUEST,TJ Destry
25-Jul-08 - 07:01 AM
Thread Name: Songs about Molly Maguires
Subject: RE: Molly Maguires: Songs about?
"The wind blows cold at night,
The brave are melancholy."

Lady Mondegreen strikes again!

The line is "When the wind blows wild at night, by the breaker melancholy."

The breaker is the place where the coal was sorted out as it came up from the mine. Typically, this was where the child labor came in, which is why, in the song "When the Breakers Go Back on Full Time," (referenced above) they sing of "and the very first chance, I'll put Seamus in pants ... " that is, we'll get the lad a job. "Instead of a burden, they'll be a gain." That song, of course, is sarcastic humor, because nobody is going to live all that well even with the children back at work. (Nothing in the song about working themselves, of course -- part of the joke!)

The brave are never melancholy, are they? I mean ... would they be brave if they were? ;-)