North Country Blues
Come gather ’round friends
And I’ll tell you a tale
Of when the red iron pits ran plenty
But the cardboard filled windows
And old men on the benches
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
北国蓝调
朋友们围过来吧
我给大家讲个故事
关于红色铁矿蓬勃
但硬纸板塞满窗的年代
而长椅上的老人们
跟你说全镇如今已经空了
在镇子最北端
我的孩子们就在那儿长大
但我成长于另一端
在我还很小很小
我的母亲病了
是哥哥把我带大的
铁矿石源源挖出
一年年流过门口
挖掘机和铲车忙碌轰鸣
直到一天我哥哥
没能回家
就像他之前的我父亲
哦一个长冬的等候
我在窗口张望着
伙伴们待我再好不过
而我的学校生涯戛然而止
我在春天辍学
嫁给约翰·托马斯，一个矿工
啊一年年再次流过
这一回赏赐丰厚
四季午餐桶都满满
三个孩子出生
工作被减短变成半天
没有缘由
不久后矿井关闭
更多的工作被咔掉
空中的火，像是冻住了
直到一个男人来说
再过一星期
十一号将关闭
东部的人抱怨
他们出款太高
他们说你们的矿石不值得采
在南美的镇子
价格低很多
那里的矿工几乎不要钱
因此矿区门上了锁
任红铁烂掉
而房间里都是酒味儿
伤心的、沉静的歌声
使时间加倍漫长
当我等那夕阳西沉
我靠窗而居
他自言自语
无语的沉默日日堆积
然后一天早晨醒来
床上不见了人影
我被扔下，只身带着三个孩子
夏天过去了
地上转冷
商铺一间间倒闭
我的孩子也会离开
一旦他们长大
哦，如今这里再没什么能留住他们
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