Bob Dylan - North Country Blues Lyrics
Come gather round friendsAnd Ill tell you a taleOf when the red iron pits ran plenty.But the cardboard filled windowsAnd old men on the benchesTell you now that the whole town is empty.In the north end of town,My own children are grownBut I was raised on the other.In the wee hours of youth,My mother took sickAnd I was brought up by my brother.The iron ore pouredAs the years passed the door,The drag lines an the shovels they was a-humming.til one day my brotherFailed to come homeThe same as my father before him.Well a long winters wait,From the window I watched.My friends they couldnt have been kinder.And my schooling was cutAs I quit in the springTo marry john thomas, a miner.Oh the years passed againAnd the givin was good,With the lunch bucket filled every season.What with three babies born,The work was cut downTo a half a days shift with no reason.Then the shaft was soon shutAnd more work was cut,And the fire in the air, it felt frozen.til a man come to speakAnd he said in one weekThat number eleven was closin.They complained in the east,They are paying too high.They say that your ore aint worth digging.That its much cheaper downIn the south american townsWhere the miners work almost for nothing.So the mining gates lockedAnd the red iron rottedAnd the room smelled heavy from drinking.Where the sad, silent songMade the hour twice as longAs I waited for the sun to go sinking.I lived by the windowAs he talked to himself,This silence of tongues it was building.Then one mornings wake,The bed it was bare,And is left alone with three children.The summer is gone,The grounds turning cold,The stores one by one theyre a-foldin.My children will goAs soon as they grow.Well, there aint nothing here now to hold them.
