Lyr Req: Sea Coal Warrior (Alan Todd)

Subject: Lyr Req: Sea Coal Warrior
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Jul 11 - 08:35 AM

Recently heard the above song by Alan Todd sung at Scarboro' Seafest.
Can anyone provide the lyrics please.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea Coal Warrior
From: GUEST,richie
Date: 20 Jul 11 - 09:46 AM

I believe there might be more than one song with that title.
The version I have on tape was recorded by Nick Fenwick maybe twenty five years ago possibly longer and was written by a Hartlepool man by the name of Alan Todd. Alan was well known on the local folk scene and wrote quite a few songs peculiar to Hartlepool Sea Coal Warrior being one of them. Alan passed away some years ago.I'll give you the first verse and chorus.

Three o clock on a winters morn
And the tide is on the turn
Drag your body out of bed
Seacoal's good to burn
The north east gales will bring it in
While they cut you through and through
No matter you get soaking wet
Or if your hands turn blue
Getting coal for the fire

coal for the fire
coal for the fire
coal that'll keep the kitchen warm
coal that'll keep the bairns from harm
coal for the fire

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea Coal Warrior
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Jul 11 - 08:21 AM

This is the song Richie, can you provide the additional verses please. Thanks

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea Coal Warrior
From: GUEST,Helen Pitt
Date: 21 Jul 11 - 10:45 AM

I think it was probably myself and Steve Dawes that you heard at Scarborough. Steve leads the song, so I will alert him to this thread later on and he can post the words. (I'd probably get some wrong if I tried, as it's Steve's lead).

Many thanks
Helen

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea Coal Warrior
From: GUEST,richie
Date: 21 Jul 11 - 01:22 PM

The remaining four verses

Leave your pride like your wife in bed
It's hard for a lad who is on the dole
But growing kids must be clothed and fed
And there's bugger all left for coal
Feed them and dress them as best you can
Hand down seconds and scuff heeled shoes
Since they closed the shipyard down
What can a fella do. but go for
Coal for the fire

Get the old boneshaker out
Or the pram with the buckled wheel
Get on the road for Seaton Sands
In a wind thats as sharp as steel
Take your sacks dont forget your rake
Your battered bucket and length of twine
Hide your shame in the early dawn
And scoop up warmth from the frozen brine

Leave your bike on the promenade
Rake your coal then pick it by hand
Fill your sacks them tie them tight
Then hump them over the dry soft sand
Three in the vee and two on the bar
You can get five on if you pack them tight
Strain your guts up Newburn Bank
An push them home home through the dawns cold light

Keep your eyes down on the ground
Pray that you dont meet a friend
The wind is cold but your pride is hot
And regognition is the bitter end
Pick your way home carefully
Use the backstreets and the quiet lanes
Seek the safety of your home
And light the fire again

Subject: ADD: Sea Coal Warrior
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Jul 11 - 03:01 PM

Richie, I pasted all the lyrics together and put them in the Digital Tradition format. Do I have it right? Anyone else have corrections to suggest?

From Richie, edited:

The version I have on tape was recorded by Nick Fenwick maybe twenty five years ago possibly longer and was written by a Hartlepool man by the name of Alan Todd. Alan was well known on the local folk scene and wrote quite a few songs peculiar to Hartlepool Sea Coal Warrior being one of them. Alan passed away some years ago.

SEA COAL WARRIOR
(Alan Todd)

Three o clock on a winter's morn
And the tide is on the turn
Drag your body out of bed
Seacoal's good to burn
The northeast gales will bring it in
While they cut you through and through
No matter you get soaking wet
Or if your hands turn blue
Getting coal for the fire

     CHORUS
     Coal for the fire
     Coal for the fire
     Coal that'll keep the kitchen warm
     Coal that'll keep the bairns from harm
     Coal for the fire

Leave your pride like your wife in bed
It's hard for a lad who is on the dole
But growing kids must be clothed and fed
And there's bugger all left for coal
Feed them and dress them as best you can
Hand down seconds and scuff heeled shoes
Since they closed the shipyard down
What can a fella do. but go for
Coal for the fire

Get the old boneshaker out
Or the pram with the buckled wheel
Get on the road for Seaton Sands
In a wind thats as sharp as steel
Take your sacks dont forget your rake
Your battered bucket and length of twine
Hide your shame in the early dawn
And scoop up warmth from the frozen brine

Leave your bike on the promenade
Rake your coal then pick it by hand
Fill your sacks them tie them tight
Then hump them over the dry soft sand
Three in the vee and two on the bar
You can get five on if you pack them tight
Strain your guts up Newburn Bank
An push them home home through the dawn's cold light

Keep your eyes down on the ground
Pray that you don't meet a friend
The wind is cold but your pride is hot
And regognition is the bitter end
Pick your way home carefully
Use the backstreets and the quiet lanes
Seek the safety of your home
And light the fire again

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea Coal Warrior
From: GUEST,Ebor_Fiddler
Date: 21 Jul 11 - 03:26 PM

There's none there now, since the sea-side pits were shut during Thatcher's reign. I remember sea coal well, it was all down the Yorkshire coast - I was only looking for traces yesterday, believe it or not! Nostalgia rules OK.

Subject: Lyr Add: SEA COAL WARRIOR (Alan Todd)
From: GUEST,Steve Dawes
Date: 24 Jul 11 - 06:10 AM

Sorry it's taken so long... things have been a bit mad this week!
There's very little difference between my version and Richie's. Mine comes from a typed copy originally from Alan himself probably with some words altered over the years by me but Alan was prone to changing the words from one performance to the next himself anyway! The main disagreement is that we have verses 2 & 3 the opposite way round. Again who's to say which is right? Indeed does it make a scrap of difference? No! The song is very evocative of the atmosphere in Hartlepool and West Hartlepool (as they then were) at that time with a lot of unemployment brought on by the closure of the shipyard and cutbacks by some other major employers.
There was a bit of a social stigma attached to having to go and get your coal this way which the song evokes very well although collecting it in bulk and selling sacks of it round the town from a lorry did prove quite a profitable business for a number of people over many years!
One of my favourite memories attached to this song was hearing it sung by Alan with magical guitar accompaniment by the said Nick Fenwick at Hartlepool (as it had become by then) Folk Club in the Market in Lynn Street.

Seacoal Warrior                        Alan Todd

Three o'clock on a winter's morn,
And the tide is on the turn
Drag your body out of bed,
Seacoal's good to burn.
The north east gales will bring it in,
While they cut you through and through
What matter if you get soaking wet,
Or if your hands turn blue, going for...

Coal for the fire, coal for the fire
Coal that'll keep the kitchen warm,
Warmth that'll keep the bairns from harm
Coal for the fire.

Get the old boneshaker out,
Or the pram with the buckled wheel.
Get on the road to Seaton Sands
In a wind that's sharp as steel.
Take your sacks, don't forget your rake,
Battered bucket and length of twine.
Hide your shame in the early dawn
And scoop up warmth from the frozen brine,        your...

Leave your pride like your wife in bed.
It's hard for a lad who is on the dole
But growing kids must be clothed and fed
And there's nothing left for coal.
Feed them and clothe them as best you can,
Hand-down clothes and scuff-heeled shoes
Since they closed Gray's shipyard down
What can a feller do, but go for...

Leave your bike on the promenade,
Rake your coal then pick it by hand.
Fill your sacks up and tie them tight
And hump them over the soft dry sand
Three in the V and two on the bar,
You can get more on if you pack them right
Strain your guts over Newburn bank
And push them home through the dawn's cold light, your...

Keep your eyes down on the ground,
Pray that you won't meet a friend
The air is cold but your pride is hot
And recognition is the bitter end.
Make your way home carefully,
Use the back streets and quiet lanes
Seek the safety of your home
Then light your fire again, with your...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea Coal Warrior (Alan Todd)
From: nutty
Date: 24 Jul 11 - 09:04 AM

The sea- coal collected at Hartlepool and to a lesser extent at Redcar was the residue from the pits, further north, after the coal had been washed and the resulting sludge jettisoned into the sea.
The incoming tide left drifts of fine black coal on the beach and this was raked up when the tide went out.
As a child I remember my father coming home with bags.
The coal was very slow burning and was used to bank up the fire at night so that (particularly in winter) the fire would burn very slowly ovenight and need not be lit every morning.
This also meant that the kitchen was always warm and the Winter fuel bill was considerably reduced.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea Coal Warrior (Alan Todd)
From: Wolfhound person
Date: 24 Jul 11 - 02:50 PM

Sea coal, and the coalers still going strong in Northumberland. On a good day for it they use horse and cart, picking up the coal that washes in from where the coal seams surface 8 miles out to sea.

At least one of them burns it in a furnace on his allotment, to heat his leek beds.

Paws

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea Coal Warrior (Alan Todd)
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 27 Jul 11 - 05:54 PM

Some more songs on the subject here.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea Coal Warrior (Alan Todd)
From: GUEST,Joe G
Date: 27 Jul 11 - 07:37 PM

This has brought back very happy memories for me of Alan singing this (and his other songs) with the chorus belted out by the crowd at the Nursery Inn when Hartlepool FC was there (I started attending in 1976 I believe when I was 17 and was looking for something to do on a rainy Sunday night). If only all folk clubs were like Hartlepool - busy, friendly, great floor singers and a solid roster of guests.

Magic!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea Coal Warrior (Alan Todd)
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Mar 13 - 06:58 PM

yes some great nighst at the nursery I remember some xmas nights there with ying ton john , mick Elliot to mention a few were to room was sooo packed we had to open the windows in the middle of winter .
mick Bentley.
ps just come from the welly were steve sang alans song tonight.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea Coal Warrior (Alan Todd)
From: GUEST,Barnacle at Work
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 08:59 AM

Hi
Alan was a good friend. He wrote this song when he was working for the employment services after a stint of national service. An ex ship-worker was claiming unemployment and had been "reduced" to collecting sea coal, he was nearly in tears when relating this to Alan.
Years later, my father collected sea coal to keep us warm during the miner's strike.
For me the song evokes lots of memories.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea Coal Warrior (Alan Todd)
From: GUEST,Joanne
Date: 22 Jul 15 - 05:31 AM

Hi, I wonder if you may be able to help. I am looking for the title and lyrics of an Alan Todd song (his daughter is my step mother and it would be a nice surprise for her birthday).... The lyrics were something along the lines of newcy newcy.... he heard the women cry (???) ...... it wasnt to keep the germans out, but to keep our sailors in..... any help or direction would be great thanks!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sea Coal Warrior (Alan Todd)
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Nov 16 - 07:11 PM

can anyone give me the tune or direct me to a recording?