Previously unreleased

Albert

He’s sitting on the bench in front of the house
He loves this special light when the sun goes down
When this grey and dusty town glows for a while
And the sunset dunks the houses into its mild light
   And the mine tips look like real hills
His wife Ann is coming down the stairs
The last sunbeams are getting caught up in her hair
She’s still a beauty, in spite of her age
And he still loves her, like the first day
   And she’s taking his hand as he coughs again
      His whole life he had worked underground
      In the coal mines of the Black Crow Company
      He had scratched the black gold out of the earth
      That made the fat cats rich, while he gave away his health

Three years after he had retired, they detected cancer in hischest
And because of the culm, his lungs turned black
It’s hard for him to breathe and every breath hurts
And there are these permanent coughing fits
   Meanwhile every movement tires him
He’d been working for the company since he was sixteen
Anyway, they didn’t recognize the cancer as trade disease
No compensation, no indemnity by the company
He and Ann were not able to afford a lawyer for the appeal
   So, there’s a small pension and high medical costs
      His whole life he had worked underground
      In the coal mines of the Black Crow Company
      He had scratched the black gold out of the earth
      That made the fat cats rich, while he gave away his health

He met Ann when hewas seventeen
On a fair in a town nearby across the creek
Her beauty was as stunning, all guys courted Ann
But in the end, she chose him as her man
   That’s the best thing that everhappened to him
He and Ann married and Ann got pregnant
And she moved in this house where he lived with his parents
The house was simple, grey and small
But they were not able to afford more
   But Ann never complained
      His whole life he had worked underground
      In the coal mines of the Black Crow Company
      He had scratched the black gold out of the earth
      That made the fat cats rich, while he got just enough to live

The whole townbelongs to the mining company
Cheap, small houses for the miners and their families
There were two traffic lights on the main street
There was a gas station, a diner and a grocery
   And there was the railway for the coal
But then they closed down the mines in the spring last year
‘Cause there wasn’t enough profit for the profiteers
And they dismissed every working man
Left behind huge mine tips and joblessness
   Mmh, mmh, mmh
      Their whole life they had worked underground
      In the coal mines of the Black Crow Company
      They had scratched the black gold out of the earth
      That made the fat cats rich, while they got just enough to live

Now most ofthe denizen had left the town
And the diner and the grocery are closed down
Many of the houses are deserted and dark
Just the old and the sick stayed back
   In this moribund town
Now he is glad, that his two sons
Had left this town when they were young
They had founded their own families
And they are living their own lives in faraway cities
   They just rarely see each other
      His whole life he had worked underground
      In the coal mines of the Black Crow Company
      He had scratched the black gold out of the earth
      That made the fat cats rich, while he got just enough to live

They are sitting on the bench in front of the house
Ann’s hair is shining in the sundown
She’s holding his hands, while he coughs again
Then he’s lifting up his head and he’s looking into her face
And there is this sparkling inside her eyes
And her eyes are saying, I’m always at your side
   And he feels this deep, deep love

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