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Tiger Bay

  • (Frank Hennessy)

    Chorus:
    He came a long long way from Tiger Bay
    On the wild wide sea to be free free free

    He worked his daily fourteen hours below
    And rarely saw the sunset or sunrise
    He watched his little family try to grow
    But he could see the sorrow in her eyes
    He sold up nearly everything he owned
    In the terraced house he rented from the mine
    Said goodbye to all the friends he'd ever known
    And sailed away in nineteen twenty-nine

    They huddled upon deck against the cold
    Smiling through the tears they tried to hide
    And they wondered what the future years would hold
    As they headed for Toronto on the tide
    A steelworks gave employment at the start
    But what they found was worse than what they'd left
    And with the dream of freedom burning in their hearts
    September found them heading for the West

    At Calgary they saw the winter out
    But the icy northern winds came thick and wild
    And late one night he heard his lady shout
    The time had come to have their precious child
    He did his best to save the seed he'd sown
    And soon he heard his baby's gentle cry
    But the new life she had given cost her own
    And he saw the love light dying in her eye

    The preacher's words made such a lonely sound
    As they laid her body in the frozen clay
    And the dreams they'd shared were buried underground
    In the foothills of the Rockies far away

    (as sung by Dave Burns)

Susannes Folksong-Notizen

  • [1986:] Frank's inspiration for this song came from a poster at the Welsh Industrial & Maritime Museum, dated 1929 and offering a direct link from Tiger Bay to North America - but not always to a better life! (Notes Dave Burns, 'Last Pit In the Rhondda')

Quelle: Wales

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