Yorkshire Garland
 

Tobacco Song

 
Performed by:
Ray Padgett
Recorded in:
Barnsley
Recorded on:
01/03/2009
Recorded by:
Ray Padgett
Genre:
Mining - Coal
Keywords:
Tobacco,
Mining
 

Archival information

TYG:
103
Key:
A
Time Signature:
4:4
Roud id:
0
Laws id:
Master title:
Tobacco Song
Places Cited:

Lyrics

1
Off to the pit with a whistle and a grin,
Five in the morning, I ain’t slept in,
This is me life, me only thing,
With me half ounce of bacca and me old snap tin.

Chorus
Black twist, brown twist, pigtail’ll do,
It’s the thing for me, lad, if not for you,
Ain’t no job in this black hole I can’t do,
When Ah nick in me marth a nice big chew.

2
Step off the cage with me new trainee,
"Wanna learn the ropes, lad, stick wi’ me,
To be a filler ont’ face, like me you’ve gorra do,
But first you’ve gorra cut off a nice big chew."

3
"Nivver ’ed none before, Jim," says he.
"With it what to do tha’ll ’ev to show me."
"Steady, lad, don’t worry. Here’s what you do,
First you spit one out and then swallow two."

4
"Spit one, swallow two makes me stomach queer,
Think I’m gonna be bad like I do wi’ too much beer,
Me ’ead starts spinning, Jim, on thee Ah’ll ’ev to lean."
"Chew it that way, me lad, tha’ll allus end up green!"

5
After ’alf an hour the lad’s alreight;
It’s on to the face from out of the gate,
Soon I’ve shown all tricks a collier will do,
Then with a smile he’s asking for a chew.