Released: January 13, 1964
Songwriter: Bob Dylan
Producer: Tom Wilson (producer)
Come an' gather 'round friends
And I'll tell ya' a tale
Of when the red iron ore pits ran a-plenty
But the cardboard filled windows
And old men on the benches
Tell you now that the whole town is empty
In the north end of town
My own children are grown
Well I was raised on the other
In the wee hours of youth
My mother took sick
And I was brought up by my brother
The iron ore poured
As the years passed the door
The drag lines and the shovels they was a-hummin'
'Til one day my brother
Failed to come home
The same as my father before him
Well a long winter's wait
From the winda' I watched
My friends they couldn'ta been kinder
And my school it was cut
As I quit in the spring
To marry John Thomas, a miner
Oh the years passed again
And the givin' was good
With the lunch bucket filled every season
What with three babies born
The work was cut down
To a half a day's shift with no reason
Then the shaft was soon shut
And more work was cut
And the fire in the air, it felt frozen
'Til a man come to speak
And he said in one week
That number eleven was closin'
They complained in the East
They're payin' too high
They say that your ore ain't worth a-diggin'
That it's much cheaper down
In the South American towns
Where the miners work almost for nothin'
So the minin' gates locked
And the red iron rotted
And the room smelled heavy from drinkin'
When the sad silent song
Made the hour twice as long
As I waited for the sun to go sinking
I lived by the window
As he talked to himself
This silence of tongues it was buildin'
'Til one morning's wake
The bed it was bare
And I's left alone with three children
The summer is gone
The ground's turning cold
The stores one by one they're a-foldin'
My children will go
As soon they grow
Well there ain't nothin' here now to hold them
And I'll tell ya' a tale
Of when the red iron ore pits ran a-plenty
But the cardboard filled windows
And old men on the benches
Tell you now that the whole town is empty
In the north end of town
My own children are grown
Well I was raised on the other
In the wee hours of youth
My mother took sick
And I was brought up by my brother
The iron ore poured
As the years passed the door
The drag lines and the shovels they was a-hummin'
'Til one day my brother
Failed to come home
The same as my father before him
Well a long winter's wait
From the winda' I watched
My friends they couldn'ta been kinder
And my school it was cut
As I quit in the spring
To marry John Thomas, a miner
Oh the years passed again
And the givin' was good
With the lunch bucket filled every season
What with three babies born
The work was cut down
To a half a day's shift with no reason
Then the shaft was soon shut
And more work was cut
And the fire in the air, it felt frozen
'Til a man come to speak
And he said in one week
That number eleven was closin'
They complained in the East
They're payin' too high
They say that your ore ain't worth a-diggin'
That it's much cheaper down
In the South American towns
Where the miners work almost for nothin'
So the minin' gates locked
And the red iron rotted
And the room smelled heavy from drinkin'
When the sad silent song
Made the hour twice as long
As I waited for the sun to go sinking
I lived by the window
As he talked to himself
This silence of tongues it was buildin'
'Til one morning's wake
The bed it was bare
And I's left alone with three children
The summer is gone
The ground's turning cold
The stores one by one they're a-foldin'
My children will go
As soon they grow
Well there ain't nothin' here now to hold them
more tracks from the album
From the album
Bob Dylan popular songs
- Murder Most Foul
- Blowin’ in the Wind
- The Times They Are A-Changin’
- All Along the Watchtower
- Like a Rolling Stone
- Make You Feel My Love
- Hurricane
- Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
- Mr. Tambourine Man
- A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
- Subterranean Homesick Blues
- Desolation Row
- Tangled Up in Blue
- Masters of War
- Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
- It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
- Girl from the North Country
- Tempest
- It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
- Ballad of a Thin Man
- Visions of Johanna
- I Contain Multitudes
- To Fall in Love with You
- Shelter from the Storm