(+) Sparkling Clean
She's sparkling clean this new-born ship
But one old thing is clear
The orders they propose above
We execue down here
We'll watch form here as up above
They'll catch a whiff of glory
This wonder ship may be brand new
But it's the same old story
Stoke the fire in the hold
As the men draw back
Feed the heat in the hold
As the men draw back
And the dust of the coal in the air is black
And a trickle of sweat runs down your back
And what are the boys
From the midlands doing here?
Coal it is that makes the steam
That runs the machines that run the world
That sends the men below the ground
To mine the coal
Each day
From leicestershire and nottingham
Us lads who worked down in the pit
Knew if you got above the ground
You'd save your soul
Some way
Get out of the pit
And westward I knew I could run
And ship out to sea
And there my new life was begun
And the screws are turning at seventy-one
It became my dream to go out to sea
Further out from the mine you couldn't be
But born to the coal
There's no place for you elsewhere
You trade a life of dank and gloom
To shovel in the boiler room
But now your seven decks below
A lady's dainty feet
And nothing has changed
There's nothing a miner can do
The pit and your mates
Turned into the hold and the crew
And the screws are turnin at seventy-two
Faster and faster we watch as we gain ever more
Seventy-three and too soon it is seventy-four
For a record speed I belive we strive
For the maiden ship that's too hard to drive
If you push her faster than seventy-five
That is the truth
I swear