On The Road
My aunt lives over there
you said
and Jimmy looked
over the back
of the coal truck
to where you were pointing
and said
we must be far
from home then
if that’s where she lives
and you looked over
at the apartments
wondering if your aunt
was home or not
and the coal guy said
best keep your heads down boys
don’t want people wondering
what the heck you’re doing
in the back of a coal truck
and so you and Jimmy
got underneath
the tarpaulin
and the driver pulled away
to deliver more coal
and Jimmy said
if my old girl
knew I was here
she’d hit the roof
or worse
and you said
well it’s been an adventure
it got us out
of the block
and on the road
for a while
and when we get
back home
we best sneak
out of here
and hope to God
we ain’t covered
in that coal dust
all over out jeans
and tee-shirts and such
or we’ll be in for it
and outside
you could hear
the pitter patter of rain
on the tarpaulin
and imagined
you could hear
Jimmy’s mother’s
sharp angry voice
through the darkness calling.
poem by Terry Collett
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Coal-Truck
I am a coal-truck
Carrying gold dust.
Someone threw some
Coal-dust upon
My gold-dust.
I am a coal-truck
In a gold mine.
Someone struck a coal vein
And piled me full in vain.
I am a coal-truck
Covered in subterranean dust.
Someone shovelled my soil
And found an ancient bone
All coiled.
I am a coal-truck
Waiting for the rain.
The sun is my rail
The night my shed.
I am a coal-truck
Rumbling all the way.
Wash me in the rain-storm
And fill me full of coke
Until I choke.
(©: T. Wignesan,1957 - Pub. in 'Forum Academicum', Heidelberg University,1957; from the collection: Tracks of a Tramp. Kuala Lumpur-Singapore: 1961)
poem by T. Wignesan
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Beat It On Down The Line
Well this job Ive got is just a little too hard,
Running out of money, lord, I need more pay.
Gonna wake up in the morning lord, gonna pack my bags,
Im gonna beat it on down the line.
Im goin down the line, goin down the line,
Goin down the line, goin down the line,
Goin down the line, goin down the line,
Beat it on down the line.
Yes Ill be waiting at the station lord, when that train pulls on by,
Im going back where I belong.
Im going back to that same old used-to-be,
Down in joe browns coal mine.
Coal mine, coal mine, coal mine, coal mine.
Coal mine, coal mine, coal mine, coal mine.
Coal mine, coal mine, coal mine, coal mine.
Down in joe browns coal mine.
Yeah, Im goin back to that shack way across that railroad track,
Uh huh, thats where I think I belong.
And thats where Im gonna make my happy home.
Happy home, happy home, happy home, happy home.
Happy home, happy home, happy home, happy home.
Happy home, happy home, happy home, happy home.
Thats where Im gonna make my happy home.
song performed by by Grateful Dead
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Diamond Or A Coal?
A diamond or a coal?
A diamond, if you please:
Who cares about a clumsy coal
Beneath the summer trees?
A diamond or a coal?
A coal, sir, if you please:
One comes to care about the coal
What time the waters freeze.
poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Scavenging For Coal
At the back
of the coal wharf
you and Fay
picked up coal pieces
that fell through
the iron railings
and put them
in an old bag from home
Fay looked
at her blackened fingers
and said
if my daddy sees
these fingers
and finds out
what I've been doing
he'll spank me
for sure
you gazed at her
beside you
and said
you can wash your hands
at my place
she looked around
at the bombsite behind you
the evening sun
slowly going down
behind the railway bridge
and nearby buildings
what if someone sees you
she asked
picking up these pieces?
no one worries about this
all the kids do it
you replied
my daddy says
it is evil to steal
she said
you put a black piece
of coal in the bag
and lifted it
to feel the weight
that's enough
you said
too much
and I won't be able
to carry it
Fay stood up
and looked around
at the darkening sky
you held the bag
in one hand
and scanned
the area around you
let's go
you said
and so you both
walked away
from the coal wharf
into Meadow Row
by the public house
where piano music played
and down towards
the flats
where you lived
and after climbing
the concrete stairs
to your landing
you opened the door
and put the bag
by the indoor
coal bunker
and showed Fay
where to wash her hands
turning on
the cold water tap
you both washed
your hands
with the red
Life Buoy soap
her hands near yours
her wet flesh
touching yours
the black water
running away
and another adventure
and another day.
poem by Terry Collett
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Cremation
Well the coal black sea waits for me me me
The coal black sea waits forever
The waves hit the shore
Crying more more more
But the coal black sea waits forever
The tornados come up the coast they run
Hurricanes rip the sky forever
Through the weathers change
the sea remains the same
The coal black sea waits forever
There are ashes split through collective guilt
People rest at sea forever
Since they burnt you up
Collect you in a cup
For you the coal black sea has no terror
Will your ashes float like some foreign boat
or will they sink absorbed forever
Will the Atlantic Coast
have its final boast
Nothing else contained you ever
Now the coal black sea waits for me me me
The coal black sea waits forever
When I leave this joint
at some further point
The same coal black sea will it be waiting
song performed by by Lou Reed
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Cremation - Ashes To Ashes
Well the coal-black sea waits for me-me-me
The coal-black sea waits forever
The waves hit the shore, crying more-more-more
But the coal-black sea waits forever
The tornados come up the coast they run
Hurricanes rip the sky forever
Through the weathers change, the sea remains the same
The coal-black sea waits forever
There are ashes split through collective guilt
People rest at sea forever
Since they burnt you up, collect you in a cup
For you the coal-black sea has no terror
Will your ashes float like some foreign boat
Or will they sink absorbed forever
Will the atlantic coast, have its final boast
Nothing else contained you ever
Now the coal-black sea waits for me-me-me
The coal-black sea waits forever
When I leave this joint at some further point
The same coal-black sea will it be waiting
song performed by by Lou Reed
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Rain On The Window
(hicks / clarke / nash)
When I hear pitter-patter the rain on the window
Reminds of her
When I hear pitter-patter the rain on the window
It was raining hard
The trees looked bare the night I met her
She was wet her hands were cold
The wind blew through her hair
Though Id known her quite a long time
We were just good friends
So it didnt seem so strange
Inviting her back home
We sat by the fire
The flames brought out something in her
Melting all the cold
Projecting warmth I never knew
As the rain beat on my window
Did she understand
That in the glow of dying embers
Everything was planned
Pitter-patter pitter-patter pitter-patter pitter-patter
Pitter-patter pitter-patter pitter-patter pitter-patter
Pitter-patter pitter-patter pitter-patter pitter-patter
Pitter-patter pitter-patter pitter-patter pitter-patter
We made love later on that night
While the rain beat on my window
I cant forget the things that happened
While the rain beat down on my window
Next time I saw her
I knew she didnt want to know me
If I disappointed her
I think she should have told me
Cant she understand
I only tried to be a man
She made me feel so ashamed
Of everything I am
When I hear pitter-patter
The rain on the window
Reminds of her
song performed by by Hollies
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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My Dear Irish Grandfather
My grandfather recalled
Some days of old when he
Collected pieces of coal -
Black cotton -
From the train tracks in his town, our U.S.A.
In his hands he'd hold
Pieces he brought home - coal to burn in a pot belly stove -
The only way sometimes
For him and his 'Pa'to keep warm back then in the days of old.
That's a story he told me.
I remember as a little girl
Walking along the road to the little one room candy store - the road that was
Part of my world -
By the greenhouses where flowers grew for market.
My friends and I looked for coke bottles amoung the tall grasses
Worth not one cent but two!
Each small glass bottle we found meant two pieces of penny candy -
Like a Christmas stocking feast - making our hearts soar..
My grandfather found coal
But lots of times we got candy at the penny candy store!
poem by Gayle Sweeney
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Football is a game designed to keep coal miners off the streets.
quote by Jimmy Breslin
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Black Gold
The Dad was dour, his face was sour
When he came home from the pit,
He looked like a furnace stoker but
That wasn't the half of it…
His fists were like a couple of hams
And he used the blighters, too,
The Mam would hear his foot on the step
And hurry to serve his stew.
She wore his bruises over her face,
Her arms and her legs and more,
I'd seen her body all over then
For I was coming-up four,
I'd watched the blood run down her leg
As she cleaned herself with a rag,
Whenever he'd come home roaring drunk,
Use Mam as a punching bag!
My sister Else was barely ten
When he made her work at the pit,
She struggled to push a cart of coal
Until she was almost sick.
The manager was a brutal man
With a knotted, leather strap,
If Else was slow or got vertigo
He'd lay it across her back!
I never heard Mam complain to him,
I guess that she didn't dare,
She'd rub some cream into Else's wounds
And run a brush through her hair.
‘It's hard, but you'll toughen up, my girl,
He said, as a sort of scold,
‘You'd better respect what we're mining here,
Just think of it as Black Gold! '
‘Think of it as Black Gold, ' he'd said…
(The sort that gets into your pores,
The dust that gives you a crippled lung
And your skin gets covered in sores.
The cough that's keeping the house awake
When everyone needs to sleep,
The sulphur smell round the chimney-piece
As you watch your mother weep!)
He dragged me out, and he took me in
When I was only eight,
He said, ‘Now look here, fella-me-lad,
It's time that you pulled your weight! '
They started me at tuppence a day
And sat me down in the shaft,
I had to open and close a trap
To help to create the draught.
The hours were long, the days were long
We worked a twelve hour shift,
It took me an hour to get to the face,
Clambering over the drift,
I didn't get time to go to school,
Still sign my name with an ‘x',
But I'm learning now at the Institute
Just to try for a little respect!
When I was ten, they sent me down
With a pick to the old coal face,
Where miners hammered and banged like hell
And they tried to make me race,
Poor Else, still pushing the trucks of coal,
Her back had formed in a hump,
The boys would whistle and jeer at her
For her legs were like two stumps.
New-fangled ships were coming in,
The ones of steel and steam,
‘It's only good for the working man, '
The Dad said: ‘Good for the team! '
But some of the stopes were caving in
The mine was in full retreat,
We'd pull what pillars of coal were left
And send them up to the street.
The Dad was working the furthest pitch
While Else sat crippled and old,
She'd ripped a tendon and looked quite lost
As she sat by a pillar of coal,
She waved me away to the further stope
And attacked the coal with a pick,
The pillar came suddenly crashing down
And the roof - it followed it!
I never saw Mam cry for The Dad,
She cried for our Else instead,
‘She never had much of a life at all,
I'm glad the old bugger's dead! '
Now the years have passed, and I understand
That The Dad was true to his kind,
He never had much of a chance at all
And he's buried, still in the mine!
18 June 2012
poem by David Lewis Paget
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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For some reason, on that sparkling afternoon last week, I actually saw the coal that was passing by and it set me to thinking how important coal was to our everyday lives when I was a little boy.
quote by Nick Clooney
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Further, the United States is moving ahead in the development of clean coal technology. There are vast coal reserves in our country, and when it is burned cleanly, coal can provide a resource to supply a large amount of our energy requirements.
quote by Virgil Goode
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Identity of Images (Identité des images)
I am fighting furiously with animals and bottles
In a short time perhaps ten hours have passed one
after another
The beautiful swimmer who was afraid of coral wakes
this morning
Coral crowned with holly knocks on her door
Ah! coal again always coal
I conjure you coal tutelary genius of dreams and my
solitude let me let me speak again of the beautiful
swimmer who was afraid of coral
No longer tyrannize this seductive subject of my
dreams
The beautiful swimmer was reposing in a bed of lace
and birds
The clothes on a chair at the foot of the bed were
illuminated by gleams the last gleams of coal
The one that had come from the depths of the sky and
earth and sea was proud of its coral beak and great
wings of crape
All night long it had followed divergent funerals toward
suburban cemeteries
It had been to embassy balls marked white satin gowns with
its imprint a fern leaf
It had risen terribly before ships and the ships had not
returned
Now crouched in the chimney it was watching for the
waking of foam and singing of kettles
Its resounding step had disturbed the silence of nights
in streets with sonorous pavements
Sonorous coal coal master of dreams coal
Ah tell me where is that beautiful swimmer the swimmer
who was afraid of coral?
But the swimmer herself has gone back to sleep
And I remain face to face with the fire and shall remain
through the night interrogating the coal with wings of
darkness that persists in projecting on my monotonous
road the shadow of its smoke and the terrible
reflections of its embers
Sonorous coal coal pitiless coal
poem by Robert Desnos
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Top Jimmy
Some friends of mine, just the other night,
Went to hear this cool cat blow.
The say he sang so good that the roof fell in,
And they didnt even stop the show.
They dont remember the place, but they remember the face,
And now everybody wanna go.
Chorus:
Top jimmy cooks, top jimmy swings.
Hes got the look. top jimmy, hes the king.
Jimmy on the television, famous people laughing with him,
Jimmy on the news at five.
Jimmy on the radio and even on the video,
That baddest cat alive.
Driving all the women crazy, only want jimmy-baby,
Love it when he rolls his eyes.
Chorus
(guitar solo)
Juke-joint jimmy is the latest thing,
Hes got the sound that everybody digs.
And the joint been jumpin when the band been pumpin
And you know theyre playing crazy gigs.
Well you aint been living till youve seen the living thing,
Top jimmy and his rhythm pigs
Chorus
song performed by by Van Halen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Sweet Guinevere
Sweet guinevere youre off to the coal town tonight
And your young brother ernies up in pittsburgh pa
You know mother loves you, and dads in the mine
So dont go to the coal town, guinevere, if youre kind
She loves a young man and he lives in the town
He leaves the house early for he works underground
He makes a good wage for a coal miners son
And shes a bit pretty, just turned twenty-one
Sweet guinevere youre off to the coal town tonight
And your young brother ernies up in pittsburgh pa
You know mother loves you, and dads in the mine
So dont go to the coal town, guinevere, shut the blind
She knows her good mothers not feelin no pain
She remembers an explosion and the black falling rain
She paints her thin lips in her dewy-eyed way
Then she says to the daughter, dear daughter I pray
Sweet guinevere youre off to the coal town tonight
And your young brother ernies up in pittsburgh pa
You know mother loves you, and dads in the mine
So dont go to the coal town, guinevere, if youre kind
song performed by by Gordon Lightfoot
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Jimmy
Jimmy
It started out with a few misfortunes
His daddy ran off with some broad from the motown
When momma said we're leavin tomorrow
Jimmy already had his things together
So many days of thinking of the past
The girl he left behind and hangin out in the
free streets
Somehow Jimmy had survived his reflections
The broken glass in his hands, a noose before him
Said he did it before
He's gonna do it again
Give him a fix and a bottle and he won't complain
Until he's blue in the face
Jimmy's the leader of a losin' race
Hey Jimmy did you learn your lesson
You always know what you were missin'
Hey Jimmy did you solve the problem
Just a kid with no direction
Some people say it was fright that drove him
But Jimmy knows who's really scared of difference
The whipping boy won't take his beating
It only left them alone to their thinking
Of how he knew what they could never know
And he would live and learn to be himself
through his mistakes
Watch and laugh, pretend they were okay
Waiting for things to change is just another day
Said he did it before
He's gonna do it again
Give him a fix or a bottle and he won't complain
Until he's blue in the face
Jimmy's the leader of a losing race
Hey Jimmy did you learn your lesson
You always knew what you were missin'
Hey Jimmy did you solve the problem
Just a kid with no direction
Hey Jimmy don't you walk away
We'll look at life according to me
You're my life support auto biography
Hey Jimmy take a look inside
Let's take a chance, enjoy the ride
Impressions don't die
No one knew your story
Hey Jimmy did you learn you lesson
You always knew what you were missin' (Jimmy)
Hey Jimmy did you solve the problem
Just a kid with no direction (Jimmy)
Hey Jimmy did you learn your lesson
You always knew what you were missin' (Jimmy)
Hey Jimmy did you solve the problem
Just a kid with no direction (Jimmy)
Hey Jimmy now your free
song performed by by 1208
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Mr. Spaceman
Performed by jimmy buffett, the great gonzo, and rizzo the rat
From kermit unpigged - jim henson records bmg kidz.
(talking)
Rizzo: hey look gonzo, jimmy's buffet!
Gonzo: oh, no no no no/ that's jimmy buffett. he's recording in there.
Come on let's go say hello.
Rizzo: no thanks, i saw a sign down the hall that said meatloaf.
Gonzo: well i'm going to see jimmy...
Gonzo: hello jimmy
Jimmy: gonzo
Gonzo: hey, you don't look so good
Jimmy: i had the most amazing night last night
(singing)
Jimmy: woke up this morning, with light in my eye,
And then realized it was still dark outside.
It was a light coming down from the sky.
I don't know who or why
Gonzo: must be those strangers that come every night,
Whose saucer shaped light, put people uptight.
Leave blue green footprints that glow in the dark.
I hope they get home alright.
(chorus)
Both: hey mr. spaceman,
Won't you please take me along.
I won't do anything wrong.
Hey mr. spaceman,
Won't you please take me along for the ride.
Jimmy: woke up this morning,
I was feeling quite weird.
Had flies in my ear and my toothpaste was smeared.
Opened my window,
They had written my name.
Both: said so long, we'll see you again.
(chorus)
Both: hey mr. spaceman,
Won't you please take me along.
I won't do anything wrong.
Hey mr. spaceman,
Won't you please take me along for the ride.
(talking)
Rizzo: hey you two.
Gonzo: what do you want rizzo?
Rizzo: you won't believe this, but there's a space ship outside.
Jimmy: oh yeah, i knew they'd come back for me.
Rizzo: what!
Jimmy: come on boys, let's go
Gonzo: yeah, let's go
Rizzo: no way, i'm not goin up in that thing.
Gonzo: oh rizzo
(singing)
(chorus)
Both: hey mr. spaceman,
Won't you please take me along.
I won't do anything wrong.
Hey mr. spaceman,
Won't you please take me along for the ride.
Won't you please take me along for the ride.
(talking)
Jimmy: alright gonzo, you ready to go?
Gonzo: sure
Rizzo: gonzo, you can't leave. you have to be here for the end of the album
Gonzo: ah, yeah
Jimmy: hey, see you later guys. i'm space bound.
Rizzo: have a nice flight
Gonzo: yeah, see you in the tabloids
Gonzo: say rizzo, is there any of that meatloaf left?
Rizzo: nah, the was some big guy in there. i guess he ate it all.
song performed by by Jimmy Buffett
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Trick Bag
12:00 o' clock at night--you walk out the door.
You told me baby--you were going to the drug-store.
Well, in my mind, I knew you were lying;
The drug-store closed at a quarter to nine.
I say I saw you kissing Jimmy across the fence,
I heard you telling Jimmy I ain't got no sense.
The way you've been acting is such a drag;
You done put me in a trick-bag.
When I come home, start an argument,
Just to keep you from asking where my voodoo went.
Peep out the front door--I hear the back door slam.
I peek out of my window--somebody's taking it on the lam.
I say I saw you kissing Jimmy across the fence,
I heard you telling Jimmy I ain't got no sense.
The way you've been acting is such a drag;
You done put me in a trick-bag.
We had a fight, then you got mad;
Got on the telephone--called your mom and dad.
Dad said, "She's my daughter and I'm her pa,
And you ain't nothing but a son-in-law."
I say I saw you kissing Jimmy across the fence,
I heard you telling Jimmy I ain't got no sense.
The way you've been acting is such a drag;
You done put me in a trick-bag.
Yeah, yeah x4
song performed by by Robert Palmer
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Jimmy Neutron Theme
Jimmy Neutron Theme
Bowling For Soup
(Jimmy Neutron)
From here to the stars,
With my candy bars,
Rides a kid
With a knack
For inventions.
A super-powered mind,
A mechanical canine,
He rescues the day
From sure destruction.
He's gotta save the world
And get to school on time,
So many things to do
And not much time
So off the ground,
Up in the air,
Out into the atmoshpere,
Who can we count on?
Jimmy Neutron!
Who can we count on?
Jimmy Neutron!
Who can we count on?
Jimmy Neutron!
No matter where you are,
You know he can't be far,
Watching the world
Through x-ray vision
And whenever he's around,
Where adventure can be found,
You know that Jimmy Neutron's
On a mission
He's gotta save the world
And get to school on time,
So many things to do
And not much time
So off the ground,
Up in the air,
Out into the atmoshpere,
Who can we count on?
Jimmy Neutron!
Who can we count on?
Jimmy Neutron!
Who can we count on?
Jimmy Neutron!
Who can we count on?
Jimmy Neutron!
Who can we count on?
Jimmy Neutron!
Who can we count on?
It's Jimmy Neutron!
song performed by by Bowling For Soup
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Down To London
Stop - whats that sound
Its the death rattle of this rusty old town
Stop - listen again
Its the sound of laughter all along the thames
Hey - whats my line
Do I have to stay here til the end of time
Im - good lookin and bright
I wanna see life after ten at night
So if they ask you where I am
Im in the back of a transit van
In a squat on the earls court road
Gone down to london turning coal into gold
Down to london - down to london
Gone down to london to be the king
Hey - whats your name
The boys back home all seem to look the same
You - should stick with me
And one of us will make it, just you see
Stop - whats that sound
Seems like the sixties are still swingin around
Hey - can you hear me back there
Or is there anybody left to care
So if you ask me where they are
Theyre hanging tough in a soho bar
Playing guitars in the underground
Gone down to london tryin to chase that sound
Down to london - down to london
Gone down to london to be the king
So I ask you should I cry or laugh
Drinking tea in a kings cross caff
A leather jacket against the cold
Gone down to london turning coal into gold
Down to london - down to london
Gone down to london to be the king
song performed by by Joe Jackson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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