When I was a curly headed baby
My daddy set me down on his knee
Saying "Son you go to school, you learn your letters
Don't you be no dusty miner boy like me"
I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazard Holler
Where the coal cars rolled and rumbled past my door
But now they stand in rusty row of all empties
Because the L&N don't stop here anymore
I used to think my daddy was a black man
With scrip enough to buy the company store
But now he goes to town with empty pockets
And Lord his face as white as February snow
I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazard Holler
Where the coal cars rolled and rumbled past my door
But now they stand in rusty row of all empties
Because the L&N don't stop here anymore
Never thought I'd live to learn to love the coal dust
Never thought I'd pray to hears those tipple roar
But God I wish the grass would turn to money
And them greenbacks would fill my pockets once more
I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazard Holler
Where the coal cars rolled and rumbled past my door
But now they stand in rusty row of all empties
Because the L&N don't stop here anymore
Last night I dreamed I went down to the office
To get my payday like I done before
But them old Kudzu vines was covered up the doorway
And there was leaves and grass growing right up through the floor
I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazard Holler
Where the coal cars rolled and rumbled past my door
But now they stand in rusty row of all empties
Because the L&N don't stop here anymore
My daddy set me down on his knee
Saying "Son you go to school, you learn your letters
Don't you be no dusty miner boy like me"
I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazard Holler
Where the coal cars rolled and rumbled past my door
But now they stand in rusty row of all empties
Because the L&N don't stop here anymore
I used to think my daddy was a black man
With scrip enough to buy the company store
But now he goes to town with empty pockets
And Lord his face as white as February snow
I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazard Holler
Where the coal cars rolled and rumbled past my door
But now they stand in rusty row of all empties
Because the L&N don't stop here anymore
Never thought I'd live to learn to love the coal dust
Never thought I'd pray to hears those tipple roar
But God I wish the grass would turn to money
And them greenbacks would fill my pockets once more
I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazard Holler
Where the coal cars rolled and rumbled past my door
But now they stand in rusty row of all empties
Because the L&N don't stop here anymore
Last night I dreamed I went down to the office
To get my payday like I done before
But them old Kudzu vines was covered up the doorway
And there was leaves and grass growing right up through the floor
I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazard Holler
Where the coal cars rolled and rumbled past my door
But now they stand in rusty row of all empties
Because the L&N don't stop here anymore
inviata da Bernart - 2/7/2013 - 11:03
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Parole e musica di Jean Ritchie, sotto lo pseudonimo di Than Hall.
Nell’album intitolato “Time For Singing” pubblicato nel 1966.
Interpretata da Guy Carawan, Johnny Cash e Michelle Shocked, tra i tanti.
Jean Ritchie, “The Mother of Folk”, cantautrice e virtuosa del dulcimer degli Appalachi, oggi quasi centenaria, tra la fine degli anni 50 e i primi anni 60 scrisse diverse canzoni sul devastazione prodotta dall’estrazione del carbone nelle regioni montuose del Kentucky. Per non subire ritorsioni fu costretta a firmarsi con lo pseudonimo di Than Hall.
All’epoca in cui questa canzone fu scritta l’industria mineraria era già in profonda crisi, gran parte delle miniere erano già state chiuse e dietro di sé avevano lasciato solo inquinamento e degrado ambientale. Anche le linee ferroviarie – come la Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N) - erano state abbandonate, le carcasse dei camion arrugginivano ai lati delle strade e il kudzu, una pianta infestante di origine giapponese importata per rinaturalizzare quei luoghi devastati, aveva preso il sopravvento soffocando i boschi rimasti…