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Boom Town

by Steel City Sue

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    CD with artwork by the wonderful Trevor Dickinson on nice-feeling recycled paper.
    11 Tracks.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Boom Town via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $15 AUD  or more

     

1.
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...
2.
Anymore 03:21
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…
3.
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
4.
Boom Town 05:07
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.
5.
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
6.
Coal Town 03:16
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
7.
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…
8.
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
9.
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
10.
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.
11.
Small Town 03:13
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!

about

Produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by Mike West at
The Ninth Ward Pickin' Parlor,
Lawrence, Kansas USA.

credits

released September 1, 2018

Su Morley: Vocals, fiddle and piano track 8
Mike West: Banjo, mandolin, dobro, guitars and harmony vocals
Katie West: Double bass and backing vocals track 10
Colby Earleywine: Drums and percussion
Bradford Hoopes: Organ tracks 3, 10 & 11. Piano track 5

All songs by Su Morley ©

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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.
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