Rap 'Er Te Bank

cho: Rap 'er to bank, me canny lad!
Wind 'er away, keep tornin!
The back-shift men are gannin' hyam,
We'll be back in the mornin'.

My feyther used to call the torn
When the lang shift was ower.
As he went oot bye, ye'd hear him cry;
D'ye knaa it's efter fower?

And when that aaful day arrived,
The last shift for me feyther;
A faal of stones and brokken bones,
But still above the clatter, he cried:

final cho:
Rap 'er te bank, me canny lad!
Wind 'er reet slow, that's clivor!
This poor aad lad hes tekken bad,
Aa'll be back heor nivvor.

From Victoria's Inferno, Raven
Collected from Henry Nattress, Gateshead
Note: The rapper rope hung from a rapper at the minehead; the
miners pulled it as a signal to bring the cage back up
to the surface.

RG