North Country Blues

Dm 
Come gather 'round friends 
         G          C   
And I'll tell you a tale 
Dm                                A7 
Of when the red iron pits ran plenty 
        Dm 
But the cardboard filled windows 
    G              C           
And old men on the benches 
Dm                    G                Dm  
Tell you now that the whole town is empty 

In the north end of town 
My own children are grown 
But I was raised on the other 
In the wee hours of youth 
My mother took sick 
And I was brought up by my brother 

The iron ore poured 
As the years passed the door 
The drag lines an' the shovels they was a-humming 
'Til one day my brother 
Failed to come home 
The same as my father before him 

Well a long winter's wait 
From the window I watched 
My friends they couldn't have been kinder 
And my schooling was cut 
As I quit in the spring 
To marry John Thomas, a miner 

Oh the years passed again 
And the givin' was good 
With the lunch bucket filled every season 
What with three babies born 
The work was cut down 
To a half a day's shift with no reason 

Then the shaft was soon shut 
And more work was cut 
And the fire in the air, it felt frozen 
'Til a man come to speak 
And he said in one week 
That number eleven was closin' 

They complained in the East 
They are paying too high 
They say that your ore ain't worth digging 
That it's much cheaper down 
In the South American towns 
Where the miners work almost for nothing 

So the mining gates locked 
And the red iron rotted 
And the room smelled heavy from drinking 
Where the sad, silent song 
Made the hour twice as long 
As I waited for the sun to go sinking 

I lived by the window 
As he talked to himself 
This silence of tongues it was building 
Then one morning's wake 
The bed it was bare 
And I's left alone with three children 

The summer is gone 
The ground's turning cold 
The stores one by one they're a-foldin' 
My children will go 
As soon as they grow 
Well, there ain't nothing here now to hold them