Get all 7 Darren Black releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Empty Halls Can Feel Like Crowded Rooms, Playing With The Truth, WISPERAU, Lord Abergavenny's Hills, Rise Above the Mumblings, Thinkers & Fools, and Silent Poetry.
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The Head Man
03:16
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No-one sees what the head man sees, the head man sees what nobody sees
Whether you're sick, down at heel, he'll do all that he can for thee
For the head man sees, the head man sees ahead for you and me
No-one knows what the head man knows, the head man knows what nobody knows
A big old house made of stone, fit for an Iron Master's home
For the head man knows, the head man knows all there is to know
He's there for to offer the gift of the cloth
And the name of his workers - this he knows and treats them with respect
No-one hears what the head man hears, the head man hears what nobody hears
Swing the lead or swig the beer, he'll find out and and he'll kick your rear
For the head man hears, the head man hears all there is to hear
He's there for the learning, at tuppence a time
Where wives teach the children - schools at Little Quick and Bunker's Hill
He’s there for the healing, and care for the old
Insane or the bleeding - charity, infirmaries for all
No-one sees what the head man sees, the head man sees what nobody sees
Whether you're sick, down at heel, he'll do all that he can for thee
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3. |
Pig Iron
03:14
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Seventeen eighty nine
Another world, another time
Forty thousand pounds
Just to get it of the ground
And three hundred men
A hundred to a furnace, three of them
Led by Thomas Hill
Hopkins, Pratt in Witley, with Nevill
There is a sense of the wealth
Influence and gravitas that came
With turning around this backwater town
And making your name
And the name of the game: pig iron
Heaps of ore and coal
Signs of land relieved of its soul
Napoleonic wars,
US Independence made it soar
So demand was high
Iron for the armaments to fight
Other people’s wars
Did they care what they were fighting for
There is a sense of the wealth
Influence and gravitas that came
With turning around this backwater town
And making your name
And the name of the game: pig iron
And as time went by
Profits grew with population rise
And it so became
The Ironworks that led the way
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My man rolls in
My man rolls in
I wanna be there to warm his feet
When my man rolls in
Out at six
Yes he’s out at six
Up before the lark and he gets home after dark
Then he’s out again at six
Me I keep good time
Put his clothes out on the line
Keep a tidy house
Put the food into his mouth and mine
Since knee high
Known him since knee high
Born across the roof from each other, that’s the truth
Known him since knee high
And he’s black as pitch
Yes he’s black as pitch
Twelve hours digging coal, stuck inside a dusty hole
Then he’s black as pitch
Once he said to me
We’re lucky just to be
We don’t need for much
Just each other that’s enough for me
And he loves me so
Says he loves me so
Does it all for me, and why should I disagree
Coz I love him so
I would live a lie
If I said I wouldn’t like
Just a little piece
Where the rainbow meets the sweet sunshine
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5. |
Lord Abergavenny's Hills
01:39
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Instrumental track
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6. |
Monoglot The Dinosaur
02:47
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They came from far and yonder
To blackened fields and skies
Some left and some absconded
Looking for a steady life
A wage is what they came for
The draw of work to do
Arriving in their thousands
Many hands and willing to
Get on, choose your words and run
Change has begun
They came from Abergele
Brymawr and Harlech too
Native pronounciation
That was all they ever knew
A language old as mountains
Befits the mother tongue
But soon like oil on water
Separation came as one
Get on, choose your words and run
Change has begun
And so then came the railway
And written English news
And more in poured the workers
Using words the Queen would choose
From London to Glamorgan
Word spread and with it spawned
A whole new way of speaking
Monoglot the dinosaur
Get on, choose your words and run
Change has begun
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7. |
The Pit Wheel
02:00
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Instrumental
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8. |
Tell It To The Cow
04:52
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Ode to the farm, four buildings in the yard, in the brow of a hill
Cattle in the shed, a barn where they hid from the cold winter chill
When the miners came, work was plentiful to gain
Money there to earn, and land to turn
Tell it to me now, I won’t listen anyhow
Calm you down, calm you down
Labour to give, they need somewhere to live, so the farm becomes a row of homes
Small but you could spit the short walk to the pit - dry and warm, a haven from the storm
Families of ten, crammed like fish into a tin
Mother stays at home, father brings in the dough
Tell it to me now, I won’t listen anyhow
Calm you down, calm you down
So to the tale of the farmer and his ale - he was fond, rather fond of a drop
Lived in number four, often found upon all fours, crawling home, beaten by the hop
Then one night he burst through the door after a thirst
Mrs farmer sighs and begins to ask him why
Soon she starts to jeer but it’s falling on deaf ears
So he leads a cow into the kitchen and pronounced
Tell it to the cow, she might listen to you now
Calm you down, calm you down
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9. |
Hats Off To The Rest
02:45
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Call a tribute to the ones who got away
Up until now whose names have never seen the light of day
From the ordinary death to the bizarre
There’s a list as long as your arm
Richard Phillips when he fell right off the furnace wall
Billy Lewis fell into the pit after a brawl
And Jones his hat blew off he chased it and he fell
Pulled and drawn right through the mill
And so to the rest, hats off to the rest
They are gone forever more
And so to the rest, hats off to the rest
Those whose names are lost forever more
Little Lewis Edmunds bless his heart was only ten
Circular saws were never meant for boys as young as him
Stephen Garret cut in two, a similar fate
An oven door for Sarah James
And so to the rest, hats off to the rest
They are gone forever more
And so to the rest, hats off to the rest
Those whose names are lost forever more
Joseph Davies caught the wrong side of the boiler tin
Got him while asleep, the workhouse saw the end of him
Quinn was drunk he passed out on the cinder tips
Dawkins met a tram, the better of him
And so to the rest, hats off to the rest
They are gone forever more
And so to the rest, hats off to the rest
Those whose names are lost forever more
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10. |
The Hills Breathe Again
04:06
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When the dust settles, the line stands still
The wheel stops turning, there’s peace on the hill
And a cold winter bears heavy and long
The last of the pits has gone
The planes pitted with quarries and mines
Blackened by tips of the colliery spoil
Tram roads and railways weaved a long line
And the forgotten landscape recoiled
The hills breathe again
The hills breathe again
The hills breathe, the lungs blow free
And the hills breathe again
Clear as morning the day begins
So starts the healing, the nightingale sings
Back grows the heather, and dresses the land
And the Blackcap is seen once again
The hills breathe again
The hills breathe again
The hills breathe, the lungs blow free
And the hills breathe again
Warm summer evening, a blood orange glow
Lights up the lake where the spoil tips flowed
Flickers and ripples like plasticine sun
And the Sand Martin heads for home
The hills breathe again
The hills breathe again
The hills breathe, the lungs blow free
And the hills breathe again
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11. |
The Enemy Within
02:18
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The end is near, intent is clear
The order comes to close them down
The Lady speaks, the Unions weep
Emotion’s high and over-ripe
Many thrown and cast like broken glass
Empty mouths to feed, but still she sees ‘the enemy within’
The whistle blows through every soul
And every heart that played a part
Were they owed as much as they gave in trust
Was it all in vein, nor the lion tamed
And they say farewell to the final bell
But burrow deep, there’s still reward left to reap
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Darren Black Winchester, UK
Darren Black is a Hampshire UK based musician, songwriter and composer whose songs are rooted in sociological and political observation. His latest album 'Empty Halls Can Feel Like crowded Rooms' was released in January 2023.
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