1. |
From the Valley
03:03
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FROM THE VALLEY - Lyrics
You can hear the ships at my place
The anthem of another bucket of coal
from the valley
And you can feel the trains at my place
The shunting of another bucket of coal
from the valley
And you can see black piles near my place
The vista of another bucket of coal
from the valley
And you can breath the dust at my place
Fragments of another bucket of coal
from the valley
But there's a road ahead
It's looking good my friend
We could turn around this car
Suicidal running off the edge of the Earth
Does it really have to be this hard?
You don't hear the birds at my place
when explosions tear another bucket of coal
from the valley
No they don't feel the blasts in this place
cause they're banking on another bucket of coal
from the valley
But there's a road ahead...
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2. |
Anymore
03:21
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ANYMORE - Lyrics
Well the stacks came down in our old steel town
Two thousand workers walked out the gates
And lord knows what they’re all doing now
‘cause it’s not a place where things get made
Anymore
Anymore
All the skills went out the door
and there’s nothing made here anymore
In a year or three the air came clean
No sulfurous stench from the riverside
Just dirty empty land where the works had been
No blast furnace orange skies
Anymore
Anymore
The air was cleaner than before when
the Big Australian went offshore
But you’ve gotta be careful what you wish for
What’s gonna fill the void when the old man dies?
A city doesn’t run on pride
Well the clean air didn’t last long at all
'cause Old King Coal grew out of control
Now we pay the price where the coal dust falls
and the boilermaker’s still on the dole
He works no more
Anymore
Coal will always leave you poor
And it’s time we showed the King the door.
But you’ve gotta be careful what you wish for…
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3. |
It's Never Enough
03:18
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IT'S NEVER ENOUGH - Lyrics
I know I gave too little
and could’ve had so much
but I was waiting out for something in your touch…
to thrill me and….
when it’s still just this chill beneath my skin
it’s never enough
I’ll turn around and say it’s ‘cause you’re being rough
I know I gave too little
and could have had so much
but I was making you jump hurdles being tough
so tough on you and….
now that you have walked away from me
this so-called love
there’s no one here to blame for all my stuff
And who would want the girl that said that
you’re the best of the last going?
No one that I know
And how did I expect that I could
look around with you not caring?
Yeah that is so slow
I know I gave too little
and could have had so much
but I was waiting out for something in your touch…
to thrill me and….
when it’s still this chill beneath my skin
it’s never enough
I’ll turn around and say it’s ‘cause you’re being rough
and now I wish that you were trying to call my bluff
cause I just didn’t see that you had had enough
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4. |
Boom Town
05:07
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BOOM TOWN - Lyrics
Our town, is a boom town
but you’d never know it was a boom town ‘cause
the main street is empty and the shops have all closed down
There are squatters in The Empire. That old seedy late night bunker
and though I barely went there
I sill miss that pub like all the ghosts
of our town.
Our town, is a boom town
but you’d never know it was a boom town when
the old Palais dance hall just got run into the ground
And I can still remember seeing Screaming Jay Hawkins there.
Everybody’s parents met there.
So much for the old icons
of our town.
When over at our harbour a mystery remains...
How so many millions worth of black coal can be hauled out every day
while our town decays…?
'cause after they’ve had their day all the money goes
out through the heads and far away.
Not a cent is left to pay for a beautiful building or anything
in our town.
Our town, is a boom town
but you’d never know it was a boom town when we’re
going to the wall just trying to fix the city hall
We could use a dollar. We could use ten cents
Even just a penny every tonne of coal could help us out
in our town
Our town, is a boom town
but you’d never know it was a boom town like those
old gold rush avenues so elegant and proud…
Brick for brick that money stayed to build the place where it was made.
Bendigo and Melbourne hold a candle to the robbery
of our town.
There are bankers at their barbecues laughing at what they made
plundering our sweet rural Valley….
while our leaders are weak and vain
'cause after they’ve had their day all the money goes
out through the heads and far away.
Not a cent is left to pay for a beautiful building or anything
in our town.
Our town is a boom town
but you’d never know it was a boom town when they
sold off our port and all the land that goes around it.
They said the windfall would be spent resuscitating Hunter Street
but most went down to Sydney town
and just like that!
they stole the jewel from our crown
and the only change that I can see is strangers buying property
our seaside home will soon be just a memory with nothing left to save
A speculators’ game…
'cause after they’ve had their day
all the money goes out through the heads and far away.
Not a cent is left to pay for a beautiful building or anything in
our town.
'cause after they’ve had their day
all the money goes out through the heads and far away
Not a cent is left to pay
for a beautiful building,
or a footy field
a surf lifesaver
or homeless meal
a railway line or a ferry or bus
or an ambulance
or anything in
our town
our town
our town
Bendigo….
Your streets were paved with gold.
But our town Newcastle never
saw a cent from coal.
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5. |
Red Dirt Track
03:44
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RED DIRT TRACK - Lyrics
Your desert road is on my mind
I’m stuck in the city doing the usual grind
and I know
I chose this life
but out goes another tide
I let my soul get out-voted
and didn’t go when you asked me to I wanted to
I know
I chose this life
and now I’ve lost track why
You just got into your big old Holden
put on David Bridie and you waved goodbye….
Now I know you’re roaming out there
while I’m here drowning in security
just half alive
it’s such a waste of time when my spirit’s fading dry
And I imagine how it’d be and how you feel
and what you’re doing on your red dirt track
if I could find my way to the outback
I’d run and dive and burn and try and fail and live and do it like
that
No golden handcuffs on you
It’s a freedom that seems to elude me
It’s not just ‘cause I’m missing you badly but the
wild intrepid possibilities I
just let slide
So send me seeds
send me songs
And lure me out of this
place I’m coming from
And I imagine how it’d be and how you feel
and what you’re doing on your red dirt track
if I could find my way to the outback
I’d run and dive and burn and try and fail and live and do it
I'll imagine how it’d be and how you feel
and what you’re doing on your red dirt track = if I could find my way to the outback
I’d run and dive and burn and try and fail and live and do it like
that
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6. |
Coal Town
03:16
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COAL TOWN - Lyrics
I used to love, the working harbour
though it harboured a disease
I used to love the sound of the ships
as they hauled all the good stuff out to sea
All day you hear em blow, like a tuba low C note
in a town of unionised industry
It was a reassuring sound until
tonnes and tonnes and tonnes more coal was
loaded up on our estuary.
I used to love
anything that rolled down the rail line
yeah I dig trains!
I used to love rattlers new and old
and any good excuse to get the big trucks off the road
But more and more coal trains are
screeching at my door
Grinding down the tracks with half our
valley on their backs
And the passenger trains wait
on the clogged lines while the dusty freight takes priority….
And it makes ‘em late
I used to love
the thriving valley floor
Sweet animals in the forest
and wine at the cellar door
I used to love
those soft and sing'y mornings
when the air is as still as cows
But it’s just a big hole now
Our land’s already too
punished and pillaged
When is enough, enough?
More power to those who speak up
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7. |
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I'VE STILL GOT TIME FOR YOU - Lyrics
I’m not go’nna tell you I love you
and I better not say you’re the only
one for me
even if it’s true
even if it’s true
And I wish I didn’t bring you those flowers
Raid my garden for the prettiest ones
when we were just new
when we were just new
I know you’ve got a long row to hoe
There could be many reasons why you haven’t called
like you used to
yeah like you used to
But this waiting is starting to hurt
and the wondering’s taking me ‘round the world
I don’t know what to do
I don't know what to say
or do
So I’m just go’nna run away to the music in the mountains and I’m
looking for a new kind’a what why where and who
Just in case it’s go’nna count for something
I’ve still got time for you
Yeah I think I over-watered the new shoots
Splashing around trying too damn hard
like a love sick fool
I was a lovesick fool
I drove many k’s just to see you
and my blue dress ended up all undone
and then you went cool
yeah you went real cool
‘cause we can talk all about things and stuff
but we’ve never once talked about ‘us’
So I’ve never had a clue
what is the go with you
And I’m so out of practice
Second guessing all the way
I wish it was just sweet and easy but this
hot n’cold thing’s so strange…
So I’m just go’nna run away to the music in the mountains and I’m
looking for a new kind’a what why where and who
Just in case it’s go’nna count for something
I’ve still got time for you
You said at the start
“I’m go’nna break your heart”
Was that some kind of joke, were you just being smart?
Turned out that was true
Maybe you’re just cruel.
I wonder what you did with those flowers…
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8. |
Walking on Your Land
03:52
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LIVING ON YOUR LAND - Lyrics
We’re not the first to taste those oysters from the rocks
slim pickin’s now anyway
And you wouldn’t touch those ones now growing on the docks
It’s just another day of our decay
Round here we never talk about it
Open up that old can of worms
Lives dispossessed
And songs that we never learned
And even if we understood
did we ever try to make it good?
Go back, back track, look at our fathers’ deeds
While the ground beneath our feet still holds the story
of the culture we were too hidebound to see
And now I’m walking on your land
I’m living on your land
and the signs and the seasons and the signals I still
barely understand….
Everything I’ve ever cared about
could never be so profound as
the worlds within the worlds
that you have lost
The incredible athenaeum
just wasted in a daylight fire
and now we don’t know
what we don’t know
While survivors of the war still hold the story
of this country we’re still too hidebound to see
And now I’m walking on your land
I’m living on your land
and the signs and the seasons and the signals I still
barely understand….
There’s nowhere else for me to go
Five generations
this is home and still
it’s not so easy claiming that
Round here I want to talk about it
Open up that old can of worms
Lives dispossessed
and songs that we never learned
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9. |
The In-Between
03:19
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THE IN-BETWEEN - Lyrics
Bring your car in off the street
and don’t run out on the veranda
and stay away from the back creek
There’s someone out there and
I don’t want you seen.
I’m fine if you wan'na come around
Just don’t think that I am caring
about your news or your life in town
You don’t know you’re just the in between.
No you don’t know you’re just the in between.
Leave those flowers in your garden
Did you think this was romance?
They’re pretty things but I don’t want them
I just thought we’d have a little secret dance
So don’t go fillin’ in your mum
Cause babe there’s nothing here to see
Pretty soon I will be gone
You don’t know you’re just the in between
No you don’t know you’re just the in between.
This will be over soon
Just as soon as she’s ready
I’ll forget about you
But I will never say
I just let you wait
‘til you work out that
your sweet love is doomed
You’ll work out that your sweet love is doomed
Even though it seems I’m free
And I’ve got lovin' time to spend
There is something up my sleeve
In seemly time that starts and this will end
In seemly time that starts and this will end
This will be over soon
Just as soon as she’s ready
I’ll forget about you
But I will never say
I just let you wait
‘til you work out that
your sweet love is doomed
You’ll work out that your sweet love is doomed
You’ll work out that your sweet love is doomed
You should’a just known that your sweet love was doomed
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10. |
Talking's So Passé
03:37
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TALKING'S SO PASSE - Lyrics
Just hold out and let it drift she’ll
get the gist
Try bein’ just a little mean she’ll
clock the scene
‘cause amore’s had its day
Babe
And taking’s so passé
Babe
Make those hours turn to weeks
That you don’t speak
Leave that letter unreturned
Just let. Her burn.
‘cause amore’s had its day
Babe
And taking’s so passé
Babe
Elle est au courante
Impasse - a oui!
Elle est au courante
I ai l’ennui
Watch that boiling river roll
Just keep control
See her drowning, reach for land don’t
give your hand
‘cause amore’s had its day
Babe
And taking’s so passé
Babe
Let her talk herself into a hole
That’s rock and roll.
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11. |
Small Town
03:13
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SMALL TOWN - Lyrics
It’s always with someone I know
I don’t wanna leave town
But maybe for now it’s the go.
And so much I’d rather not know.
You could be more subtle than
tune up the girl down the road
Yeah you just make a small town even smaller,
when you go out to play,
like a boy trying new toys you
leave messy bedrooms behind….
And now that our little one’s gone
Our son without his brother’s at home
playing alone.
But still you go cruising about.
Yet another girl with that sheepish look
leaves me no doubt
Yeah you just make a small town even smaller,
when you go out to play,
like a boy trying new toys you
leave messy bedrooms behind….
I’m facing what I’ve always known
Pack up these affairs and the boy
find a new home
‘cause this heart can’t break anymore
now there’s two of us hanging around
when there used to be four
And since the blow this whole town just got madder…
no escape from your show.
You can bring home the circus,
But fairy floss won’t fill the hole
I’ve gotta go!
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Steel City Sue Newcastle, Australia
Steel City Sue is a musician based in Newcastle, Australia.
She plays trad fiddle, and follows it
around the world to where the tunes are cranking and the dance floor's busy.
She also writes songs - about her life and her town.
Boom Town is her debut album and was recorded with Truckstop Honeymoon in Lawrence Kansas
at Mike West's 9th Ward Pickin' Parlor.
It will be released 1st Sept 2018.
... more
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