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(available on line for a few days only - sorry)
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OWD ZITHER
(Colin Dryden)
Forty years in the Mill
Your time's near done, but it's going still,
It's time to be thinking of making your will,
But you've nowhere to go, no intentions.
The weft and the weave it was your game,
Ten thousand hours you spent on the frame.
And now walking home in the driving rain,
With a brand-new watch and a pension.
Time now to side and to bide and to dream,
Think on owd man of the changes you've seen
In coal and in diesel, the power of steam,
Black shawls, coal stockings and courting
Clogs on the frost an a cold winter's morn,
The smell of the grease and the oil on the loom.
And the wife with the kids at the gateway at noon,
Stands waiting for your wages on Friday.
But the shuttles have flown and it's time to roam,
Back to your fire and your armchair at home
Leave all the mill-hands and weavers alone
To their beer and their joking.
But many the time you have stood wi' the best,
Although the looms they have near turned you deaf,
They've all got a few miles of weaving as yet
Before they'll have bested owd Zither.
Additional stanza - not sung by Bogle:
It's six in the morning, it's time to rise,
Sleep on owd man you're weary and wise,
For the ways of the world and all of the tries,
For a part time job in diffing
Puffing and painting up past the mill,
Up to ale-house to drink all your fill,
Though you've only got enough brass for a gill,
There may be a job in the offing.
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Sung by Eric Bogle on 'Down Under' (1981)
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Submitted by EB
Background: 'Zither' was the nickname given to the grandfather of the writer of this song (Colin Dryden) when he worked in the mill of Northern England. This song tells the time of Zither's retirement and it's a bitter-sweet commentary on growing old and not being able to work any more. 'Owd' meand old.
The sound files (RealAudio) for most of the lyrics I've posted here during the past months are available at
http://geocities.com/Nashville/Opry/7424