Lyr Add: Going to the Mine (Johnny Handle)

Subject: Lyr Add: GOING TO THE MINE (Johnny Handle)
From: Shanty Kees
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 09:17 AM

From the song GOING TO THE MINE (Johnny Handle) I miss a few words. The words underneath are as Box Fox and Benny Graham sing the song on "How are you off for coals". I hope the part I wrote down is correct. Who can help with the missing words?

GOING TO THE MINE.

Into the smoky morning,
I'm trudging down the line,
Past the dirty ... engine,
Going to the mine.

Rows of pit folk's houses,
Like regiments in time,
Tasting ... daylight,
When you're going to the mine.

Whistle of the buzzard,
And it's time to rise and shine,
How I long for Sunday,
When I'm going to the mine.

Falling snow around us,
Turning into grime,
Down the coaly trackway,
When you're going to the mine.

Flying birds and freedom,
But I must serve me time,
One day I'll be flying too,
From going to the mine.

Falling down the shaft,
And I'm leaving the sun behind,
I'm born to be a human mole,
Going to the mine.

Subject: RE: Missing words: Going to the mine
From: GUEST,Adri
Date: 24 Feb 01 - 04:22 PM

I did find you the follwing lyrics: ..pass the dirty tangly engine... ..taste the gritty daylight... The whistle of the buzzer.... ...turning into grine...

These are the lyrics I sing. Succes, from Holland

Adri

Subject: RE: Missing words: Going to the mine
From: Shanty Kees
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 08:06 AM

Adri,

Thanks for your help. I'll try to sing it, now it's complete. All the best. also from Holland.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Going to the Mine (Johnny Handle)
From: GUEST,Johnny Handle
Date: 30 Mar 10 - 04:34 PM

The missing words are past the dirty TANKY engine
and taste the GRITTY daylight
TANKY ENGINES were used for shunting work and short haul trips with coal waggons to the main rail networks.They were steam angines with two water tanks on either side . You can see them on the preserved rail lines in the North East of England.
The songs was written about the dependency of villagers at Dudley, Northumberland on their coal mine as the anchor of the Community.
I worked at that pit in 1953, and developed the song from a poem I wrote about is in 1956.
Thanks for singin me song, folks.
I have a web site at http://www.johnnyhandle.co.uk.
Cheers
Johnny

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Going to the Mine (Johnny Handle)
From: GUEST,Doc John
Date: 31 Mar 10 - 05:02 AM

It's good to hear from you on the Mudcat, Johnny. I greatly enjoy your work, especially the wonderful NE dialect, although being a Lancashire Lad myself I often have to refer to your glossaries! That's a particularly evocative song which brings back pictures of my northern childhood - but did you record it yourself?
Regards
Doc John

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Going to the Mine (Johnny Handle)
From: GUEST
Date: 25 May 13 - 10:53 AM

wow Johnny Handle himself!!! I'm on a search for good northern songs (a favourite is The Jute Mill song) and had just got Bob Fox's CD. This song and Farewell Johnny Miner are winners. It may seem a pathetic request but any chords? Straightforward ones I hope. Can work out a harmonica intro. Thanks Jenny -a southerner - never been down a mine in my life but love these songs packed with history and feeling.