Lyr Req: Mill songs

Subject: RE: Lyric request: Mill songs
From:
Date: 27 Feb 97 - 07:04 AM

What about the tune "Cotton Mill Girls"?

"I've worked in the cotton mills all my life and I ain't got nothing but a Barlow knife. And its hard times cotton mills girls, its hard times everywhere. . . " Song by Hedy West. I think Gail Rundlett has recorded it. Lyrics and chord progression can be found in the book Rise Up Singing. That book is the greatest! Except it doesn't have a song I've been looking for - Barlow Knife. If any one know the lyrics to that one, please e-mail me. Thanks!

Subject: RE: Lyric request: Mill songs
From: Barry
Date: 12 Feb 97 - 11:51 PM

Si Kann also wrote "Go to work on monday" one more time . A mill song about brown lung. Another gem would be "4 Loom Weaver" or "Ten & Nine". Can't remember where you'd find.

Subject: RE: Lyric request: Mill songs
From: Bobby O'Brien
Date: 12 Feb 97 - 07:41 AM

Maria, you're probably right :) So many local traditions are spun off of others. I'll look into it. Thanks again for the tip.

Subject: RE: Lyric request: Mill songs
From: marla
Date: 11 Feb 97 - 11:51 AM

Bobby, That sounds like it may be a local adaption of Si Kahn's song.."Arigon(sp?) Mill" ....(giggle, this is a joke, it is only a joke).... Art Thieme once told me he had heard that Si Kahn was concidering changing his name to "Ho Chi Mihn City" (hiss, today, but you'll be tellin' it tomorrow..giggle)

Subject: Lyr Add: MOHAWK MILL / ARAGON MILL (Si Kahn)
From: Bobby O'Brien
Date: 11 Feb 97 - 11:02 AM

Locally, there's a song called "Mohawk Mill,” about the huge carpet mills that once inhabited and employed 3 out of 4 people in Amsterdam, NY (where I live now). In 1968 the mills all closed and moved south. Here are the lyrics of "Mohawk Mill.”

At the east end of town, at the foot of the hill,
There’s a chimney so tall, it's called Mohawk Mill
But there's no smoke at all coming out of the stack
For the mill has shut down and it's never coming back.

The mill has shut down; it’s the only life I know
Tell what will I do, tell me where will I go
I’m too old to work and too young to die
Tell me what will we do, my family and I.

My children have grown and moved far away
There’s one in Chicago, and another in LA
No cards in the mail, no calls on the phone
They’d sooner forget this place was once their home.

As I sit on my porch and watch the time pass by
Tell me what's left to do for my old wife and I.
There's houses for sale all up and down my street,
They’ve all given up, couldn't make both ends meet.

At the east end of town at the foot of the hill
There’s a chimney so tall, it's called Mohawk Mill.
But there's no smoke at all coming out of the stack,
For the mill has shut down and it's never coming back.

And the only sound I hear is the cry of the wind
As it blows through the town, weave and spin, weave and spin.

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 20-Mar-02.

Subject: RE: Lyric request: Mill songs
From:
Date: 10 Feb 97 - 12:33 AM

You can find Sutter's Mill at http://www.roughstock.com/cowpie

Subject: RE: Lyric request: Mill songs
From: Jeff Sherman
Date: 09 Feb 97 - 11:19 PM

You could check out The House Bands new album "Rockall". The song song "Hopeless Road" is about a town put out of work by the closing of a mill.

Subject: Lyr Add: ARAGON MILL (Si Kahn)
From:
Date: 03 Jan 97 - 03:25 PM

I read some references to Si Kahn's "Aragon Mill" and a few others of his about the textile mills. One of my faves along this line is "Goodbye, Monday Blues." Unfortunately, I have only the chorus in my brain-bank, but what a beautiful slant-rhyme! "Goodbye, Monday Blues - Hello, Cardroom Fever. Cotton dust has got my lungs, you know I'm bound to leave yer." ... "Aragon Mill" goes like this =


ARAGON MILL
(Si Kahn)
As recorded by Si Kahn on "New Wood" (1974)

At the east end of town at the foot of the hill
There's a chimney so tall that says: "Aragon Mill;"

But there's no smoke at all comin' out of the stack
'Cause the mill has pulled out and it ain't comin' back.

Now I'm too old to change and I'm too young to die,
And there's no place to go for my old man and I.

There's no children at all in the narrow, empty streets.
Now the looms have all gone; it's so quiet I can't sleep.

And the only tune I hear is the sound of the wind
As it blows through the town: "Weave and spin; weave and spin."

Now the mill has shut down; it's the only life I know.
Tell me, where will I go? Tell me, where will I go?

And the only tune I hear is the sound of the wind
As it blows through the town: "Weave and spin; weave and spin."


Catch, if you can the Dry Branch Fire Squad's cover of this song. It's a real tearjerker. Best of luck!

Subject: RE: Lyric request: Mill songs
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 27 Dec 96 - 07:41 PM

Hi Tiger Welcome aboard. And thanx for the lyric.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE MILL MOTHER'S LAMENT^^^
From: Ralph Butts
Date: 27 Dec 96 - 03:37 PM

Here's another gem for your list

Ralph (Tiger) Butts

-------------------

THE MILL MOTHER'S LAMENT
by Ella May Wiggins

We leave our homes in the morning,
We kiss our children good-bye,
While we slave for the bosses,
Our children scream and cry.

And when we draw our money,
Our grocery bills to pay,
Not a cent to spend for clothing,
Not a cent to lay away.

And on that very evening
Our little son will say:
"I need some shoes, Mother,
And so does Sister May."

How it grieves the heart of a mother,
You everyone must know.
But we can't buy for our children,
Our wages are too low.

It is for our little children,
That seems to us so dear,
But for us nor them, dear workers,
The bosses do not care.

But understand, all workers,
Our union they do fear.
Let's stand together, workers,
And have a union here.

Subject: RE: Lyric request: Mill songs
From:
Date: 14 Dec 96 - 02:37 PM

I almost forgot. How about the Jute Mill Song" It's on the DT.

Subject: RE: Lyric request: Mill songs
From: LaMarca
Date: 14 Dec 96 - 01:00 PM

A few other goodies I haven't seen mentioned here are Si Kahn's "Spinnin' Mills of Home" about a Southern textile worker who has to go work in the steel mills in Gary, Ind. every time the spinning mills close down. Don't know which Si Kahn album it's on, but Art Thieme does a nice version on his Folk Legacy album "On the Wilderness Road". Si Kahn is very active in union organizing, and has written a whole slew of excellent songs about working in the textile mills. Another good song is "Turning Steel" by an English song- writer; it's on Holdstock and MacLeod's first tape; it's about working in a metal fabricating mill all the days of your life.

Subject: RE: Lyric request: Mill songs
From:
Date: 10 Dec 96 - 11:38 AM

Anne Hills other mill song is "Sound of the Looms". I think it's on her album, "Angle of the Light".

And what about the traditional Scottish, "Wark o' the Weavers"? Look for ED Miller's version.

If it wa'n' f'r the weaver what would we do? We wouldn' ha' the clothes that are made o' woo' We wouldn' ha' the coat, no neither black nor blue If it wa'n' f' the wark o' the weaver."

Subject: Lyr Add: SONG OF THE SHEETMETAL WORKER^^^
From:
Date: 21 Nov 96 - 03:59 PM

As promised I've managed to get hold of "Song of the sheetmetal worker" by John Dengate of Sydney. The tune is 'Valley of Knockanure'

Oh when I was a boy in Carlingford all sixty years ago,
The eucalypts grew straight and tall and the creeks did sweetly flow,
But times were hard when the old man died and the orchard would not pay
So I left the land for the factory bench and I'm working there still today.

I have earned my bread in the metal shops for forty years and more
My hands are hard and acid-scarred as the boards on the workshop floor.
My soul is sheathed in Kembla steel and my eyelids have turned to brass
And the orchard's gone, and the apple trees where the wind whispered through the grass.

The workshop is my altar where I come to take the host.
Copper, brass and fine sheet steel-father son and holy ghost.
The sacramental wine of work grows sour upon my tongue;
Oh the fruit was sweet on the apple trees when my brothers and I were young.

(Published in New City Songster and recorded on Rebel Chorus)

Subject: RE: Lyric request: Mill songs
From: Davy
Date: 07 Nov 96 - 12:49 PM

Check out the furey Bros "Belfast Mill"

Subject: RE: Lyric request: Mill songs
From: bob schwarer
Date: 05 Nov 96 - 06:17 PM

how about "aragon mill". It's on the Digital Tradition"

Subject: RE: Lyric request: Mill songs
From: Doug Jenner
Date: 04 Nov 96 - 12:47 PM

Colin Dryden's song "Factory Lad" is in the database. It's a beauty and a classic in oz. Also John Dengate's "Song of the sheetmetal worker". It wouldn't be in the db I don't think. I'll try to suss out the words for you,

Doug

Subject: RE: Lyric request: Mill songs
From: Bill
Date: 04 Nov 96 - 01:44 AM

Bob Coltman put together *The Weaver's Reverie" from the diary of an early weaver who longed for the open spaces. It can be found on a recent Folk Legacy recording, For All the Good People.

Subject: RE: Lyric request: Mill songs
From: Alex
Date: 29 Oct 96 - 01:06 AM

Check out an album by Carla Sciaky called "Spin The Weaver's Song" in which she covers the entire spectrum from shearing to weaving to waulking in several languages. It's on Green Linnet - a brilliant piece of work.

Subject: RE: Lyric request: Mill songs
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 24 Oct 96 - 10:21 PM

Hi- There are a LOT of songs that haven't arrived at the Digital Tradition yet. If you find one or more, send them in (here). That way, they WILL be in the DT.

thanx (in advance)

Subject: RE: Lyric request: Mill songs
From:
Date: 24 Oct 96 - 11:06 AM

I just remembered, the title of the Anne Hills song is not "Allentown Mills", it's "Silken Dreams".

Subject: RE: Lyric request: Mill songs
From:
Date: 24 Oct 96 - 10:42 AM

Make sure you hear Anne Hills', "Allentown Mills", the words of an ex-weaver from the Allentown, PA mills that Anne put to music. "These here looms are fifty years old. Me an' .... we're a little older." It's on the Trio album (Anne, Cindy Mangsen and Priscilla Herdman). Anne has another mill song too, but I can't think of it now. It might be on the same album. Let me know if you can't get a copy. I'll check it out tonight and add something here tomorrow.

Subject: RE: Lyric request: Mill songs
From:
Date: 20 Oct 96 - 08:13 PM

There's a beautiful James Taylor song entitled "Millworker Which is in one of his song books. Priscilla Herdman recorded it on her second album. It's from a woman's perspective. I could probably pull all lyrics for you if You'd like, but the James Taylor book has chords as well. "Oh my grandfather was a sailor and he blew in off the water. My father was a farmer, and I his only daughter. I took up with a no good mill working man from Massechu- setts who died from too much liquer and left me these three faces to feed. Millwork ain't easy. Millwork ain't hard.Millwork it ain't nothin' but an awful boring job..."

There's also a great Si Kahn song called "You Got to Know When to Move." about workers in South Africa going out on strike in solidarity with workers here in the US. I'd tend to look for stuff by Si (Aragon Mill) Bruce Springstien (sp) is probably also a good source. ("The River", and another one about a child riding home from work with his dad, steering the car, something about "look around you son, this is your town" Anyway, a few thoughts for you. Good Luck.

Subject: Lyric request: Mill songs
From:
Date: 17 Oct 96 - 08:05 PM

I am doing some research on Mill-factory-manufacturing- themes in contemporary music (1965 - present). If you know of any I would greatly appreciate it!

I'm also looking for the lyrics to four particular songs: Down in the Milltown - John Gorka Snow Outside the Mill - Bill Morrissey Closed Down Mill - Bill Morrissey Sutter's Mill - Dan Fogelberg

If you know where these lyrics are on-line that would be a great help. Thanks!