William's Tale
Original Lyrics
Revised Lyrics
Now this is the town where I was born
It's the town where I live now
There is many a tale to be told of this place
I will tell one to you now
In Nineteen-O-One I entered the world
The year that Victoria died
My mother died delivering me
How my father must have cried
As a young lad of twelve fresh out of school
I spent my first day down the mine
And it seemed like the hell of a dark prison cell
But Lord knows I'd committed no crime
The West Stanley Disaster I remember it well
A hundred and sixty-eight lost their lives
We were little more than slaves then
Growing old before our time
When the Fourteen-Eighteen Great War came
My father was among the first to go
He joined the Durham Light Infantry
And we were proud of the medals he won
Pozzieres, Mons, Ypres (Wipers), Cambrai and the Somme
He fought in all the major campaigns
But when they shipped him back home at the end of it
He wasn't the father that we had once known
In Twenty-Six the General Strike
Saw all the men out on the streets
From Jarrow they marched in Thirty-Six
But all they got was blood on their feet
Half a century on it all happened again
It seems that some things never change
Back then Jarrow cried now Sunderland has died
And strikes are still all the rage
When the Second World War came along
In Nineteen-Thirty-Nine
My son got a note from the government
Saying "We need your services son for a while"
Then they sent me a note at the end of it all
Saying "Sir your son did fine
Now he's buried in North Africa
You can visit him from time to time"
Now I sit here at home with my plaque on the wall
It's not much to show for my life
Of fifty-odd years of toil down the mine
It's been a long haul of struggle and strife
And if the Tories get back into power again
It's going to drive me insane
And now that the Eighties have become the 'Haties'
There's no future left for the bairns of today
(Gary Miller)
© 1992 Whippet Records
Copyright Control MCPS/PRS
This is the town where I was born
It's the town where I lived and died
There’s many a tale to be told of this place
But the one that follows is mine
In Nineteen-O-One we entered the world
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyons and I
But my mother died delivering me
A privileged upbringing I was denied
As a young lad of twelve, fresh out of school
I spent my first day in the deep of the mine
It seemed like the hell of a dark prison cell
But Lord knows I'd committed no crime
The West Stanley Pit Disaster I remember it well
One-hundred and sixty-eight lost their lives
We were little more than slaves then
Growing old before our time
When the 14-18 Great War came
My father want off to fight the Hun
He joined the Durham Light Infantry
And we were proud of the medals he won
Pozzieres, Mons, Ypres, Cambrai and the Somme
He fought many major campaigns
But when they shipped him back home with shell-shock
He wasn't the father I had once known
In ’26 the General Strike
Saw all the men out on the streets
And from Jarrow they marched in ’36
But all they got was blood on their feet
Half a century on it all happened again
It seems that some things never change
Jarrow rued and the strikes continued
While the iron fist held sway
When the Second World War came along
In Nineteen-Thirty-Nine
Me son got a note from the govt saying
"We need your services son for a while"
Then they sent me a note at the end of it all
Saying “Sir, your son did fine
Now he's buried in North Africa
You can visit him from time to time"
As the decades passed I had time to reflect
On all that had happened to me
With my working days spent along with my rent
No retirement castle for me
Too feeble and old to cope with the cold
Sat next to a dying fireside
Out for a pint on a lonely night
Even simple pleasures I was denied
I faded at home with a plaque on the wall
Fifty years of a miner's life
Coughing up my guts to the bitter end
Alone with me baccy and pipe
Until the Millennium passed and I quietly passed on
No national mourning for me
For I had no royal blood, I just did what I could
Through the Twentieth Century
(Gary Miller)
Releases (on Whippet Records unless otherwise stated)
Video Clips
Gary Miller & Mick Tyas performing 'William's Tale'
live in the garden at Whippet Records HQ,
Belle Vue House, Ferryhill, England, on 25th February 2017.
live in the garden at Whippet Records HQ,
Belle Vue House, Ferryhill, England, on 25th February 2017.