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Tunnellers

by Nancy Kerr

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1.
On dockland sand Our future’s father Surveyed a sunken ship His hand upon its beams Some seaborne soul Some sweet Teredo Turned trusted oak to bone Turned oceans into dreams That little friend Through great invention Grew to iron size below the riverbed Now fortune fair And great Teredo Keep the air above my miner laddie’s head I feel the stones Below us rolling Shifting shale and industry Let life prevail My sweet Teredo Keep him whole and bring my miner lad to me Brave engineers And all their credo May lose a hundred men or launch a dozen ships Fortune and you My sweet Teredo Keep the breath between my miner laddie’s lips I feel the stones Below us rolling Shifting shale and industry Let life prevail My sweet Teredo Keep him whole and bring my miner lad to me Oh Mother Thames Beware our lovers For they’re the ones who coax your London clay to part When rivers rage My sweet Teredo Keep a cage around my miner laddie’s heart I feel the stones Below us rolling Shifting shale and industry Let life prevail My sweet Teredo Keep him whole and bring my miner lad to me On dockland sand Our future’s father Surveyed a sunken ship His hand upon its beams Some weary soul Some little sailor Turned trusted oak to bone Turned oceans into dreams That little friend Through great invention Grew to iron size below the riverbed Fortune and you My sweet Teredo Keep the air above my miner laddie’s head When waters rise My sweet Teredo Keep the light within my miner laddie’s eyes When rivers rage My sweet Teredo Keep a cage around my miner laddie’s heart When ships come in My sweet Teredo Keep the breath between my miner laddie’s lips Your steady heart My little traveller Warms the blankets on my miner laddie’s bed I feel the stones Below us rolling Shifting shale and industry Let life prevail My sweet Teredo Keep him whole and bring my miner lad to me I feel the clay Below us rolling Ragged shale and industry Let life prevail My little traveller Keep him whole and bring my miner lad to me Words and music © Nancy Kerr 2021
2.
As I was going to Dartford all on a winter’s day Those lads of Kent were downward sent With the pilot underway And we were gettin’ a rise, gettin’ a rise With a tee i ee i o We were gettin’ a rise, gettin’ a rise With a tee i ee i o Well we were feeling jammy Gone down to 8-hour shifts Then the foreman cries You’ll be gettin’ a rise Every time you take the lift! We were gettin’ a rise, gettin’ a rise With a tee i ee i o We were gettin’ a rise, gettin’ a rise With a tee i ee i o The craic was up to ninety But the foreman’s face was drear “There’s industry in the old country But beggar-all happening here!” We were getting’ a rise, getting’ a rise With a tee i ee i o We were gettin’ a rise, gettin’ a rise With a tee i ee i o And it’s oh the cruel compressor And oh the miners’ moans And oh the shock of the medical lock When the wind gets in your bones But we were gettin’ a rise, gettin’ a rise With a tee i ee i o We were gettin’ a rise, gettin’ a rise With a tee i ee i o Well love can move a mountain But we could shift the moon We could shovel to hell Then sleep so well That we wouldn’t wake up till noon We were gettin’ a rise, gettin’ a rise With a tee i ee i o We were gettin’ a rise, gettin’ a rise With a tee i ee i o Well some say digging’s lousy But miners know it’s grand When you’re down the hole you’ll bless the soul Of a Dartford tunnelling man We were gettin’ a rise, gettin’ a rise With a tee i ee i o We were gettin’ a rise, gettin’ a rise With a tee i ee i o Words and music © Nancy Kerr 2021
3.
4.
When fortunes are uncertain And we are growing old We need the art of a sturdy heart To keep us from the cold We search for resolution In heroes far and wide And seek in love the courage of The tunneller and the tide For neither shall surrender Or ever be denied Let all revere in voices clear The tunneller and the tide Since pasture turned to piston And shipworm turned to shield The miner’s cheer and the engineer Have caused our rocks to yield From Tideway to the Medway From Blackwall up to Clyde Though sirens sing they’ll not give in The tunneller and the tide For neither shall surrender Or ever be denied Let all revere in voices clear The tunneller and the tide Great kingdoms break their borders With lagan, steel and tether Since hopes arise in a miner’s eyes To clasp all hands together Britannia takes our galleons And lays them side by side Though nations fall they shall not stall The tunneller and the tide For neither shall surrender Or ever be denied Let all revere in voices clear The tunneller and the tide You miners of all nations Who strived at our behest We call each friend for to commend Your hearts in peace to rest Let stumbles not deter us And distance not divide: We’ll rise above with the courage of The tunneller and the tide For neither shall surrender Or ever be denied Let all revere in voices clear The tunneller and the tide For neither shall surrender Or ever be denied Let all revere in voices clear The tunneller and the tide Words and music © Nancy Kerr 2021
5.
I’ll walk my boots clean someday Sure as a pool in a valley of clay I’ll walk my boots clean someday My brothers they are all underground We shovel and fill ‘til we come to the crown From the river to the sea St Johnston wait for me I’ll walk my boots clean someday I’ll walk my boots clean someday Sure as a pool in a valley of clay I’ll walk my boots clean someday I laid the ground for the new Jubilee The Mersey and Thames owe their soundness to me From the river to the sea Botallack wait for me I’ll walk my boots clean someday I’ll walk my boots clean someday Sure as a pool in a valley of clay I’ll walk my boots clean someday I’ve blasted for rails and canals Cheek with the pit boss and craic with me pals From the river to the sea Buncrana wait for me I’ll walk my boots clean someday Our girls of the great TBM Strata or sleech, they mean nothing to them From the river to the sea Sweet Rhondda wait for me I’ll walk my boots clean someday I’ll walk my boots clean someday Sure as a pool in a valley of clay I’ll walk my boots clean someday I’ve witnessed the fall of the face When you labour in fear for the lives of your mates From the river to the sea Oh Trimdon wait for me I’ll walk my boots clean someday I’ll walk my boots clean someday Sure as a pool in a valley of clay I’ll walk my boots clean someday Soon this shift will be done I’ll lie with my lass and I’ll stand in the sun From the river to the sea Gdynia wait for me I’ll walk my boots clean someday For our crew, we’re the pick of the crowd We are strong, we are bold, we are wild, we are proud And from Brno to Bray, to the Wild Atlantic Way We’ll walk our boots clean someday I’ll walk my boots clean someday Sure as a pool in a valley of clay I’ll walk my boots clean someday Words and music © Nancy Kerr 2021

about

Former BBC Folk Singer of the Year releases Tunnellers, a mythical-industrial song cycle commissioned by the British Tunnelling Society for their 50th anniversary year and built from the extraordinary stories of this indomitable international workforce which has shaped our land and waterways.

“Not just the dates, and landmark projects, and prominent engineers, but the stories of all of us –
the hard work, humility, and sometimes hubris,
the everyday courage, and everyday fears,
the endless boring repetition when things go well,
the pressure, amidst the noise and dust, when they don’t.
The friends and colleagues we have lost or seen irreparably damaged. The ones who still stand by our sides.” Dr Benoît Jones, British Tunnelling Society 2021

Anthems to nature and engineering, hymns of courage and migration, tunes and songs of celebration, innovation and hope.

credits

released April 15, 2021

Nancy Kerr: Voice, Guitar, Violin, Viola
Tom Wright: Bass, Drums, Voice
James Fagan: Bouzouki, Mandolin, Voice, Guitar
Matt Quinn: Concertina, Voice

Little Dish Records
LIDIEP6
All Words and Music © Nancy Kerr 2021

Engineered and produced by Tom Wright at Powered Flight Music, Sheffield, UK

Photography by James Fagan

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Nancy Kerr Sheffield, UK

Folk Singer of the Year BBC Folk Awards 2015

"Outstanding chamber folk" (The Guardian) "Folk's Poet Laureate" (FRUK) "One of the UK’s foremost composers of modern folk and social commentary songs” (Royal Shakespeare Company).

Photo credits: James Fagan, Elly Lucas
Album design: Lizzy Doe
... more

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