North Country Blues

[Verse 1]

Come an' gather 'round friends and I'll tell ya a tale

Of when the red iron ore pits ran a-plenty

But the cardboard-filled windows and old men on the benches

Tell you now that the whole town is empty

[Verse 2]

In the north end of town, my own children have grown

Well I was raised on the other

In the wee hours of youth, my mother took sick

And I was brought up by my brother

[Verse 3]

The iron ore poured as the years passed the door

The drag lines and the shovels they was a-hummin'

'Til one day my brother failed to come home

The same as my father before him

[Verse 4]

Well a long winter's wait from the winda' I watched

My friends they couldn'ta been kinder

And my schooling was cut as I quit in the spring

To marry John Thomas, a miner

[Verse 5]

Oh, the years passed again and the givin' was good

With the lunch bucket filled every season

What with three babies born, the work was cut down

To a half a day's shift with no reason

[Verse 6]

Then the shaft was soon shut and more work was cut

And the fire in the air, it felt frozen

'Til a man come to speak and he said in one week

That number eleven was closin'

[Verse 7]

They complained in the East, they're payin' too high

They say that your ore ain't worth a-diggin'

That it's much cheaper down in the South American towns

Where the miners work almost for nothin'

[Verse 8]

So the minin' gates locked and the red iron rotted

And the room smelled heavy from drinkin'

When the sad silent song made the hour twice as long

As I waited for the sun to go sinking

[Verse 9]

I lived by the window as he talked to himself

This silence of tongues it was buildin'

'Til one morning's wake, the bed it was bare

And I's left alone with three children

[Verse 10]

The summer is gone, the ground's turning cold

The stores one by one they're a-foldin'

My children will go

As soon as they grow

For there ain't nothin' here now to hold them