5:15 am

5.15 A.M.
Snow layin' all around
A collier cycles home
From his night shift undergroundPast the silent pub
Primary school, workin' mens club
On the road from the pit head
The churchyard packed with minin' deadThen beneath the bridge
He comes to a giant car
A shroud of snow upon the roof
A mark ten jaguarHe thought the man was fast asleep
Silent, still and deep
Both dead and cold
A shot through with bullet holesThe one armed bandit man
Came north to fill his boots
Came up from Cockney land
E-type jags and flashy suitsPut your money in
Pull the levers, watch 'em spin
Cash cows in all the pubs
But he preferred the new nightclubsNineteen sixty-seven
Bandit men in birdcage heaven
La dolce vita, sixty-nine
All new to people of the TyneWho knows who did what?
Somebody made a call
They said, "His hands were in the pot"
That he'd been skimmin' haulsHe picks up the swag
They gaily gave away
Drives his giant jag
Off to his big pay dayOh, the bandit man
Came north to fill his boots
Came up from Cockney land
E-type jags and flashy suitsAn' the bandit man
Came up the great north road
Up to Geordie land
To mine the mother lodeSeams blew up or cracked
Black diamonds came hard won
Generations toiled and hacked
For a pittance and black lungCrushed by tub or stone
Together and alone
How the young an' old
Paid the price of coalEighteen sixty-seven
My angel's gone to Heaven
He'll be happy there
Sunlight and sweet clean air, oh ohThey gather 'round the glass
Tough hewers and cutters
Child trappers and putters
Little foals and half-marrows
Who pushed and pulled the barrows
The hod boys and the Roley way men
5.15 A.M.