Capstick Comes Home

I'll never forget that first day at the pit Me an' me father worked a 72-hour shift Then we walked home, 43 miles through the snow, in us bare feet Huddled inside us clothes made out of old sacks Eventually, we trudged over the hill until we could see the streetlight twinklin' in our village Me father smiled down at me through icicles hangin' off his nose "Nearly home now lad," he said We stumbled into t'house and stood there freezin' cold and tired out Shiverin' and miserable, in front of the meagre fire "Any road, me mum says Cheer up, lads I've got you some nice brown bread and butter for your tea" "Ee," my father went crackers He reached out and gently pulled my mum towards him by the throat "You big fat, idle ugly wart," he said "You great useless spawny-eyed parrot-faced wazzock" He had a way with words, me father He'd been to college, you know "You've been out playin' bingo all afternoon instead of gettin' Some proper snap ready for me an' this lad" He explained to me poor, little, purple-faced mum Then turnin' to me he said "Arthur?" He could never remember me name "Here's half a crown Nip down to t'chip 'oyl an' get us a nice piece o' 'addock for us tea Man cannot live by bread alone" He were a reyt tater, me father He said, "Us 'ow workin' folk should have some dignity an' pride an' self-respect And as 'ow they should come home to summat warm an' cheerful" An' then he threw me mum on the fire We didn't have no tellies or shoes or bedclothes We made us own fun in them days Do you know, when I were a lad you could get a tram down into the town Buy three new suits an' an ovvercoat, four pair o' good boots Go an' see George for me at the Palace Theatre, get blind drunk Have some steak an' chips, bunch o' bananas And three stone o' monkey nuts an' still 'ave change out of a farthing? We'd lots o' things in them days they haven't got today Rickets, diptheria, Hitler and my, we did look well goin' to school With no backside in us trousers an' all us little 'eads painted purple because we 'ad ringworm They don't know they're born today