Story Behind the Song
This is typical of the songs I was writing in the 1980s. It is a modern song in a traditional style. As with many of my songs of that period it was written from a woman's perspective. A working woman laments the fact that toil has destroyed the life in all of the men in her life.
Lyrics
Sons of the Soil
I once had a farmer plough more than my land,
Whose eyes watched the floor as we walked hand in hand.
Then he left my fields fallow for nearly two years,
When he'd gone I could find no reason for tears.
C
H Pity the lad, pity for the wife of him,
O Pity their joyless days.
R Curse on them all,
U Those who took the life from them,
S Took it in so many ways.
Once with a seaman I set out to sail,
I loved his dark eyes and his jet-black pigtail.
But he'd cry on my pillow as we lay in our bunk,
Till my hope for his vessel struck a rock and was sunk. (CHORUS)
Once with a soldier I set up my camp,
And soothed his deep wounds by the light of a lamp.
But his love of the battle set my blood running cold,
His soul had been bought when his body was sold. (CHORUS)
I once had a miner to share my sleep,
Who scratched at the surface, but never went deep.
He created a nightmare from a beautiful dream,
And left me as barren as a water filled seam. (CHORUS)
A silk-worker finally spun me in his arms,
And wove quite a tale of his life love and charms,
Back and forth went his shuttle till I was consumed,
Then abandoned with child and in the workhouse entombed. (CHORUS)
Now as I stand here, counting the cost,
Of the pain I have gained and the pleasure I've lost,
I curse at the masters and their back breaking toil,
Destroying the life in the sons of the soil. (CHORUS)
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