Lyr Req/Add: When the Breaker Starts Up Full Time

Subject: Coal Mine Song
From: tremodt
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 06:02 PM

it is an irish song about the irish coal miners in PA some tyhing about " the money will be starting when the collary machine starts working again

thank you all

Hop in ass

ro1sin

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Coal Mine Song
From: catspaw49
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 06:04 PM

Hop in Ass? No, but thanks anyway..........

Spaw

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Coal Mine Song
From: tremodt
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 06:06 PM

Spaw

Happy New Years

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Coal Mine Song
From: catspaw49
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 06:12 PM

Yeah, well, Happy New Year's back......but I still ain't hoppin' in your ass!

Spaw

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Coal Mine Song
From: Stewie
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 06:47 PM

There is one from the hard-coal region of Pennsylvania called 'When the breaker starts up full time'. It begins:

Me troubles are over Mrs Murphy
For the Ditchman next door told me straight
That the breaker starts full time on Monday
That's what he told me at any rate

If it is the song you are after, I can supply the lyrics.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Coal Mine Song
From: Gareth
Date: 29 Dec 01 - 07:20 PM

Joshing Apart - try this site for a general overview.

CLICK 'ERE"

Gareth

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Coal Mine Song
From: GUEST,TheBoyo
Date: 30 Dec 01 - 12:13 PM

Hey Stewie, yer right! The Con Carbon song!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Coal Mine Song
From: tremodt
Date: 30 Dec 01 - 03:07 PM

yes stewie i would likew the words and tune if possible

ron

Subject: Lyr Add: WHEN THE BREAKER STARTS UP ON FULL TIME
From: raredance
Date: 30 Dec 01 - 04:59 PM

WHEN THE BREAKER STARTS UP ON FULL TIME

Me troubles are o'er, Missis Murphy
For the Ditchman next door told me straight,
That the breaker starts full time on Monday,
That's what he told me at any rate.
Sure the boss he told Mickey this morning,
When he's 'bout to enter the mines,
That the coal was quite scarce (down) 'bout New York,
And the breaker would start on full time.

CH:
And it's oh-ho-ho, my, if the news be true,
Me store bill's the first thing I'll pay,
A new parlor shuit and a lounge I will buy,
And an organ for Bridgie, hurray!
Me calico skirt I'll throw into the dirt
And in silk ones won't I cut a shine?
Cheer up, Missis Murphy, we all will ate turkey,
When the breaker starts up on full time.

I'll ne'er stick a hand in the washtub,
The Chinee man he'll get me trade,
I'll ne'er pick a coal on the dirt bank,
I'll buy everything ready made.
I'll dress up me children like fairies,
I'll build up a house neat and fine,
And we'll move away from the Hungaries
When the breaker starts up on full time.

CH:

source: "Pennsylvania Songs & Legends" by George Korson, 1949, Univ. Pennsylvania Press.

rich r

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Click to play

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Coal Mine Song
From: Stewie
Date: 30 Dec 01 - 07:41 PM

Ron, I am unable to supply the tune, but the song has been reissued on CD on Various Artists 'Songs and Ballads of the Anthracite Miners' Rounder CD 1502. Korson's source for the lyrics kindly posted by rich r was Jerry Byrne at Buck Run, Pennsylvania, 1946.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Coal Mine Song
From: Stewie
Date: 30 Dec 01 - 07:48 PM

I meant to mention that, on the recording, Byrne substitutes 'And if I get a chance, I'll put Jamesie in pants' for the 'Cheer up Mrs Murphy ...' line in the chorus second time through.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Coal Mine Song
From: tremodt
Date: 30 Dec 01 - 08:45 PM

wow that must be an old song i did not realize that thanks very much

ron

Subject: Lyr Add: WHEN THE BREAKER STARTS UP FULL TIME
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 09 Jan 08 - 12:15 AM

This version comes from Labor's Troubadour by Joe Glazer, 2001, page 89. Glazer says he got it from a booklet called "Con Carbon's Own Songster" which was about 60 years old when George Korson showed it to him around 1970. Glazer then recorded it on "Down in a Coal Mine," 1970.

WHEN THE BREAKER STARTS UP FULL TIME
Con Carbon

Me troubles are o'er, Mrs. Murphy,
For the Dutchman next door told me straight
That the breaker starts full time on Monday.
That's what he told me, any rate.
Sure the boss he told Mickey this morning,
When he's 'bout to enter the mine,
That the coal was quite scarce down 'bout New York,
And the breaker would start on full time.

CHORUS: And it's oh, my, if the news be true,
Me store bill's the first thing I'll pay,
And a new parlor suite and a lounge I will buy,
And an organ for Bridgie, hooray!
Me calico skirt I'll throw into the dirt,
And in silk ones won't I cut a shine?
Cheer up, Mrs. Murphy. B'damn, we'll eat turkey
When the breaker starts up on full time.

I'll ne'er stick me hand in the washtub.
The Chineeman he'll get me trade.
I'll ne'er pick a coal from the dirt bank.
I'll buy everything ready-made.
I'll dress up me children like fairies.
I'll build up a house neat and fine,
And we'll move away from the Hungaries
When the breaker starts up full time. CHORUS

Subject: RE: Req/ADD: When the Breaker Starts Up Full Time
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Jan 08 - 04:11 AM

I posted the tune from the Korson Pennsylvania Songs and Legends book (lyrics posted by rich r above). There seem to be some typographical errors in the Korson text (elg., "what's phat he told me at any rate"). rich r corrected most of them, but it's hard to tell what "shuit" is supposed to be in the chorus. I think I'd accept "suite," which is what Jim Dixon found in the Joe Glazer text.

-Joe-

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Click to play

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Here are the notes form the Rounder CD, Songs and Ballads of the Anthracite Miners:

The coal breaker, a straggling hulk of a building, is the most characteristic feature of the anthracite landscape. It is there that the amorphous lumps which the miner had extracted from the seam are cleansed and cracked into standard sizes for the market. Standing close to the mouth of a mine slope or shaft, it frequently may be found hugging a hillside.
Almost from the time that the first breaker cast its shadow, miners have invested it with symbolical significance. "When the Breaker Starts Up Full Time" catches the mining folk in a happy mood. After the prolonged unemployment the miners hear a rumor that their breaker is to resume production. All the good things sung of in the ballad represent so much wishful thinking because in the 1880's when the ballad appeared, luxuries were beyond reach even when the mines were working full time.

On the Rounder CD, the song is sung by Jerry Byrne, recorded at Buck Run, Pennsylvania, 1946 (see post from the Korson book, above, for Byrne's lyrics). Byrne sings it like an old-time Irish tenor.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Req/ADD: When the Breaker Starts Up Full Time
From: Rabbi-Sol
Date: 09 Jan 08 - 01:14 PM

I have the album by "The Irish Balladeers" that I purchased at the Anthracite Museum in Scranton,PA. which contains this song.

In the last line they sing "And we'll move away from the Roundheads"
instead of the "Hungaries".

I am going to take this midi file to the folks at my Newsgroup which is Alt.Binaries.Karaoke and see if they can add the second stanza and chorus as well as some backing tracks so that we can have the complete song as a Van Basco file.

                                                 SOL

Subject: RE: Req/ADD: When the Breaker Starts Up Full Time
From: Rabbi-Sol
Date: 12 Jan 08 - 07:26 PM

Thanks to my good friend Ron Tilden, we now have a complete midi-karaoke file for this song. We added the second stanza and final chorus from the lyrics provided above and also spruced the file up by adding backing tracks. It is available to anyone free of charge if you PM me with your e-mail adress.

                                                      SOL