Max Boyce: Live at Treorchy... Again

-ANNOUNCER:

-Once again, he's live at Treorchy.

Please welcome on stage the legend that is Max Boyce.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# Mae'r baban yn y crud yn crio

# A'r gath wedi scrapo Joni bach

# Sosban fach yn berwi ar y tan

# Sosban fawr yn berwi ar y llawr

# A'r gath wedi sgrapo... # OK, let's go!

RHYTHMIC CLAPPING

# Mae bys Meri-Ann wedi brifo

# A Dafydd y gwas ddim yn iach

# Mae'r baban yn y crud yn crio

# A'r gath wedi sgrapo Joni bach

# Sosban fach yn berwi ar y tan

# Sosban fawr yn berwi ar y llawr

# A'r gath wedi sgrapo

# Joni bach. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-Ogi, ogi, ogi!

-CROWD:

-Oi, oi, oi!

-Ogi, Ogi, ogi!

-CROWD:

-Oi, oi, oi!

-Ogi!

-CROWD:

-Oi!

-Ogi!

-CROWD:

-Oi!

-Ogi, ogi, ogi!

-CROWD:

-Oi, oi, oi!

-What a magic welcome!

-CROWD CHEERS

You know, so much has changed since I was in Treorchy last.

-These houses weren't here for a start.

-LAUGHTER

But I can remember as if it was yesterday

the first time I came to Treorchy... the first time I came to the Rhondda

-was to open an old people's home.

-LAUGHTER

And I said, "They won't know me in the Rhondda."

This old lady came out on a Zimmer

and I said, "Excuse me, do you know who I am?"

-"No", she said, "but if you ask the Matron, she'll tell you."

-LAUGHTER

When you get older, the first thing that goes is your memory.

My pal Ron said, "I'm the same, Max. I can't remember anything.

"I can't remember where my car keys are, where my phone is,

"I can't remember where I went on holidays last year.

"I can't remember."

He said, "What's the name of that leafy stuff that grows around the chimneys of old manor houses?"

I said, "Ivy?" "That's it! Ivy, where did we go on holiday last year?"

LAUGHTER

And talking...

..talking about last year, hasn't the year gone like that?

It's gone like that.

When you get older, time is the most precious thing known to us.

Do you know, you good folk of Treorchy,

nearly eight years have passed since the English rugby team

won the World Cup in Australia?

CROWD BOOS

-I was really pleased for them(!)

-LAUGHTER

I am not one of these narrow-minded one-eyed West Walians!

LAUGHTER

I was pleased for them. I was really pleased for them.

Do you remember the homecoming? Who can forget the homecoming?

Those two open top buses down The Strand,

going down Oxford Street, down Regent Street,

Sir Clive Woodward holding the holy grail of rugby above his head,

500,000 people - half a million people there to welcome the returning heroes,

bank managers, solicitors and lawyers leaving their offices,

leaving their laptops behind, coming out in their red braces,

their faces daubed with the red and white cross of St George,

singing Jerusalem and Swing Low Sweet Chariots.

-When I saw that, I thought to myself, how childish!

-LAUGHTER

APPLAUSE

If Wales won the World Cup we wouldn't do anything like that!

-Two open top buses? We'd have 200 open top buses!

-CROWD CHEERS

And those buses that weren't open, we'd have welders working three shifts...

..to burn the top off any bus that wasn't open.

But can you imagine if Wales won the World Cup?

Can you imagine if James Hook dropped a goal in the dying seconds to win it for Wales?

Can you imagine? They'd make a 60 foot Grogg of him.

LAUGHTER

His mother's home help would get the OBE.

LAUGHTER

And the osprey would become a protected species.

LAUGHTER

But can you imagine...can you imagine if Wales won the World Cup?

There'd be a free 365-page colour supplement in the Western Mail.

Children would have a year off school.

LAUGHTER

And the Pope would visit Cwmparc!

LAUGHTER

APPLAUSE

Can you imagine if Shane Williams scored a try in the dying seconds to win it for Wales?

He'd be met off the plane...he'd be met of the plane at Heathrow

and driven home down the M4 on the back of a golf buggy!

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

With JPR Williams riding shotgun!

But I don't think...I don't think we'll ever win the World Cup.

CROWD SIGHS

The last...well, the last time, out in France, we lost to Fiji.

And England nearly won it again. They played really well.

And they came home on a special plane -

a special Boeing 747 called Sweet Chariot.

Wales came back on a plane called Never Mind.

LAUGHTER

And it all started to unravel when we decided to have a friendly

against England at Twickenham as a warm up.

How can you have a friendly against England?

And we lost 62-5!

And it's not, you know...it's not the losing to England I hate.

What I hate is the time still left in a game

in which you know you're going to lose to England.

LAUGHTER

You're sat there and there's nothing you can do about it

and that time is endless.

Play is going on but time isn't passing.

I just want to leave the ground and join some silent order.

And sell perfume on Caldey Island.

LAUGHTER

And never be seen or spoken of ever again,

but you can't, you've got to stay there.

Over the tannoy came this announcement. "Attention, please. Attention, please.

"Would Mr Morgan of 23, Tir y Dail Terrace, Ystradfellta,

"go immediately to ground entrance two where his father has suffered a severe cardiac arrest?"

This bloke got up, ashen-faced, and started to walk out.

The bloke next to me said to me, "Some people get all the luck!"

LAUGHTER

To think, on the day, I nearly didn't go.

I didn't have a ticket. But lucky, lucky, last minute, my uncle died.

LAUGHTER

But the trouble was, the funeral was arranged the same time as the game.

I couldn't go to both.

I didn't have a ticket for the funeral.

LAUGHTER

So I went to the match.

I thought, the least I can do, when I come back, I'll ask how the funeral went.

-When we came back on the Thursday...

-LAUGHTER

I said, "Shwt a'th yr angladd?"

"Max", he said, "don't talk.

"I haven't been able to sleep since. Nobody has."

"What happened?", I said.

"They put Billy Williams in charge of funeral arrangements", he said.

"He haven't done anything like that before. He's only on a YTS scheme."

LAUGHTER

"What happened?", I said.

"You're supposed to at least show compassion.

"This poor man had come to pay his last respects, he wasn't fit to be out.

"He hadn't been out for months, but he came, whare teg. He came to pay his last respects."

His skin was like parchment paper, his eyes were sunk in his head,

his coat just hung on him and he stood over the grave in this biting wind

and Billy said, "Hey, butt, how old are you?"

HEAVY BREATHING

-HE WHEEZES:

-"I'm a hundred... I'm a hundred and seven", he said.

"I'm a hundred and seven."

And Billy said, "It's hardly worth you going home."

LAUGHTER

APPLAUSE

And worse was to follow.

He said, "You know your uncle was cremated?"

He said, "I can't believe they did it.

"They were taking the ashes in the hearse...they were taking the ashes

"slowly up the mountain, up to the Addoldy Chapel,

"they were taking the ashes slowly up in the hearse

"and that weekend there was a lot of black ice on the road,

"the back wheels of the hearse were skidding

"and Billy Williams, he used the ashes..."

LAUGHTER

I said, "Where is he now?" "He's on a roundabout in Abergavenny."

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

On the album I recorded some songs about going to Scotland, The Scottish Trip,

and I've also written about going to Twickenham and France.

But a trip in recent times that's been so popular is the trip to Rome to play Italy

and I was there two years ago and I went to Pompeii.

I visited the little village of Pompeii

where all was destroyed by the earthquake and volcano in 79AD.

I was walking around and I met up with these two boys

from Blaenau Ffestiniog in North Wales - Dylan and Siriol.

LAUGHTER

And we were chatting in Welsh.

Blaenau Ffestiniog is a little village tucked away at the foot

of the old, now disused Dinorwic slate quarries in North Wales.

We were chatting in Welsh and this American tourist came over with a guide book

and he said, "Where you guys from?

"That's a neat accent. Where you guys from?"

And Dylan said, "Blaenau Ffestiniog."

And the American said, "What state is that in?" "Same state as Pompeii."

LAUGHTER

Anyway, this is...

No, it's a lovely village. Some of my best friends are there.

This is a little song...you won't know this song. It's not on the Live At Treorchy album

because I only wrote it last year.

It's got as little chorus, right, and the words are... it's about the Italy trip,

"Yes, we'll all come to hear the story,

"singing calon lan yn llawn daioni,

"oh, it's good to see the glory that was Rome."

We'll try it till we get it right, OK?

# Yes, we'll all come to hear the story

-# Singing...

-CROWD:

-Calon lan yn llawn daioni

# Oh, it's good to see the glory that was Rome. #

OK, you've got it.

This is the trip to Rome.

-# Well, Rome still looks the same...

-LAUGHTER

# Well, Rome still looks the same

# As I step down from the plane

# And there to meet me was the Pope

-# The holy papa...

-LAUGHTER

# And he told the boys he was glad to see them

# He took them on a tour of the Colosseum

# Oh, it's good to see the glory that was Rome

# Yes, we'll all come to hear the story

-# Singing...

-CROWD:

-Calon lan yn llawn daioni

# Oh, it's good to see the glory that was Rome

# When we reached St Peter's Square

# There were thousands gathered there

# And we waited for the holy father's blessing

# And he prayed there for the simple reason

# They hadn't won a game all season

# No, it's good to see the glory that was Rome

# Yes, we'll all come to hear the story

# Singing calon lan yn llawn daioni

# Oh, it's good to see the glory that was Rome

# And I bought some souvenirs

# Some coins and Roman spears

# And a paint by numbers Sistine Chapel ceiling

LAUGHTER

# And I bought myself old Italian beers

# And a bottle of the Virgin Mary's tears

# It's good to see the glory that was Rome

# Yes, we'll all come to hear the story

-# Singing...

-CROWD:

-Calon lan yn llawn daioni

# Oh, it's good to see the glory that was Rome

# Near Flaminio's little ground

# An Irish bar we found

# And I worried with the bar bill slowly mounting

# Till I saw the boys there slowly counting

# All the coins they'd nicked from the Trevi Fountain

# Oh, it's good to see the glory that was Rome

# Yes, we'll all come to hear the story

-# Singing...

-CROWD:

-Calon lan yn llawn daioni

# It's good to see the glory that was Rome

# Our flight back home's delayed

# The Pope was so dismayed

# He was on our flight and he looked so disappointed

# He said we could be here till Monday

# And they want me on Scrum V on Sunday

# Oh, it's good to see the glory that was Rome

# And we'll all come to hear the story

-# Singing...

-CROWD:

-Calon lan yn llawn daioni

# It's good to see the glory

# That was Rome. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

You sang that well.

Can I introduce you now to a great writer

and a great musician and a great friend and a great poet.

He wrote the amazing, successful High Hopes and Satellite City

so please give a big warm welcome to Boyd Clack.

APPLAUSE

Thank you very much.

It's a pleasure to be here this evening.

I've known Max for some time,

I've admired his work for even longer than that

and it's quite a privilege to be asked to read some of his poetic lyrics this evening.

Erm, the first one I'm going to read

was a song from his seminal album, Live at Treorchy.

9-3.

T'was on a dark and dismal day in a week that had seen rain

when all roads led to Stradey Park with the All Blacks here again.

They poured down from the valleys, they came from far and wide,

there were 20,000 in the ground and me and Dai outside.

LAUGHTER

The shops were closed like Sunday and the streets were silent still

and those who chose to stay away were either dead or ill.

But those who went to Stradey Park will remember till they die

how New Zealand were defeated and how the pubs ran dry.

Aye, the beer flowed at Stradey, piped down from Felinfoel

and the hands that held the glasses high

were strong from steel and coal.

The air was filled with singing and I heard a grown man cry -

not because we'd won but because the pubs ran dry.

Then dawned the morning after on empty factories

for we were still at Stradey, bloodshot absentees.

But we all had doctor's papers and they all said just the same,

that we all had scarlet fever and we caught it at the game.

LAUGHTER

Now all the little babies in Llanelli from now on

will be christened Roy or Carwyn, Derek, Delme, Phil or John.

And in a hundred years again they'll sing a song for me

when they scoreboard read Llanelli nine, Seland Newydd three.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

And when I'm old and my hair turns grey

and they put me in a chair,

I'll tell my great grandchildren that their Tadcu was there.

And they'll ask to hear the story of that damp October day

when I went down to Stradey to see the Scarlets play.

Thank you.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Talking...talking about World Cups, you know,

the World Cup I enjoyed, '95 in South Africa at Ellis Park.

South Africa and New Zealand in the final.

And, for me, a humble valley boy like myself,

to meet President Mandela, the greatest man I've ever met,

the privilege of meeting that man

and seeing him at the end of the game,

to see him holding the World Cup above his head

and all the rainbow coloured people, all of them singing...

# Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrica

# Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrica... #

I bloody cried, boys. I was so emotional.

I cried like the rain... because I'd backed New Zealand at 11-2(!)

LAUGHTER

But it was a triumph. Those who went, it was a triumph.

They wanted it to work... the rainbow coloured people wanted it to work for their president.

It was such a triumph for them.

For Wales it was a disaster. We lost to Ireland in the first round.

People were asking me, was I disappointed we lost to Ireland?

I didn't mind losing to Ireland. At least I knew where it was.

LAUGHTER

20 years ago we were losing to places and people I'd never heard of!

We lost one game to a passer by.

LAUGHTER

And she hadn't been playing rugby very long.

LAUGHTER

Before we went, we had all these inoculations for cholera and typhoid and yellow fever.

We said, we'll follow the side for as long as we're in the competition.

We went out on the Monday, we were back on the Friday.

LAUGHTER

I still had three boxes of malaria tablets.

And once you start the course, you've got to finish it(!)

It was so embarrassing. I was in the Brecon Beacons

in a howling blizzard, up to here in snow, taking malaria tablets.

LAUGHTER

And the World Cup before that, we lost to Western Samoa!

Nobody knew where that was.

And we lost to them in Cardiff,

yet we beat them in Western Samoa on this sun-baked ground fringed by palm trees.

I rung home, my mother answered the phone, "Helo, bach, shwt wyt ti?"

"OK, Mam." "Where are you?" I said, "I'm in Western Samoa."

"What's it like there?" "Mam, it's 130 in the shade."

"Oh, stay out of the shade whatever you do!", she said.

LAUGHTER

And now I want to introduce you to a hugely talented young lad and such a lovely boy as well.

You've probably seen him on Britain's Got Talent.

He even sung at Michael Jackson's funeral.

A warm welcome to Shaheen Jafargholi.

APPLAUSE

# Beside the sea

# Red roses growing

# Beside the sea

# White lilies showing

# Beside the sea

# Her beauty telling

# My true love sleeps

# Within her dwelling

# Beside the sea

# The stones lie scattered

# Where tender words

# Of love were uttered

# While all around

# There grew the lily

# And sweet branches

# Of rosemary

# Ar lan y mor

# Mae rhosys cochion

# Ar lan y mor

# Mae lilis gwynion

# Ar lan y mor

# Mae 'nghariad inne

# Yn cysgu'r nos

# A chodi'r bore

# Beside the sea

# Blue pebbles lying

# Beside the sea

# Gold flowers glowing

# Beside the sea

# All things fairest

# Beside the sea

# I found

# My dearest

# Beside the sea

# I found my dearest

# Oooooh. #

APPLAUSE

Diolch. It's, erm...

..it's magic being here on St David's Day.

Normally, I'm not in Wales, I'm all over the world.

Last year I was in France speaking to the Paris Welsh Society.

I was in this lovely restaurant...

lovely French restaurant called La Maison Bleue.

A beautiful restaurant in one of the great culinary capitals of the world.

There was all this wonderful food,

but there, in the middle... Welsh water.

Oh, it was so...

When I'm away I get very emotional. Welsh water.

I looked... "Mon ami. Aqua, pays de Galles."

LAUGHTER

And on the label it said...it was Swn y Nant, the water was called.

"Sound of the brook."

I read the label and it said, this water first fell as soft rain

in the lower reaches of the Brecon Beacons in the Black Mountains

and for 500 billion years...

..it filtered down through layers of millstone, grit and sandstone

to be at your table today.

And underneath it said, best before February 4th.

LAUGHTER

APPLAUSE

500 billion years it had been filtering down

and I got there three days too late(!)

Dinosaurs could drink out of it and I couldn't. It had gone off.

Can you imagine what the Rhondda bus had been like 500 billion years ago?

Wooly mammoths were roaming the mountains.

-People on from Treherbert...

-LAUGHER

..were hunting them for their wool to take to Polikoff's to make suits for them.

LAUGHTER

People from Ferndale were coming down from the trees

and learning to walk upright.

LAUGHTER

And Treorchy were unbeaten!

CROWD CHEERS

APPLAUSE

And now I'd like to introduce you to one of Wales' finest young singers.

She's a lovely girl with a wonderful voice. Please welcome Fflur Wyn.

APPLAUSE

As Max has been telling us since 1973,

here in Wales we do love singing

Land of my Fathers and Hymns and Arias.

But, tonight, Ar Hyd y Nos.

# Holl amrantau's ser ddywedant

# Ar hyd y nos

# Dyma'r fford I fro gogoniant

# Ar hyd y nos

# Golau arall yw tywyllwch

# I arddangos gwir brydferthwch

# Teulu'r nefoedd mewn tawelwch

# Ar hyd y nos

# O mor siriol, gwena seren

# Ar hyd y nos

# I oleuo'i chwaer ddaearen

# Ar hyd y nos

# Nos yw henaint pan ddaw cystudd

# Ond I harddu dyn a'i hwyrddydd

# Rhown ein golau gwan i'n gilydd

# Ar hyd y nos

# Holl amrantau's ser ddywedant

# Ar hyd y nos

# Dyma'r ffordd I fro gogoniant

# Ar hyd y nos

# Golau arall yw tywyllwch

# I arddangos gwir brydferthwch

# Teulu'r nefoedd mewn tawelwch

# Ar hyd y nos

# Ar hyd y nos. #

APPLAUSE

I look back at my...looking back at my childhood, you know,

and I look back at the times in school.

On St David's Day we used to have the school Eisteddfod.

I look back at those times in school and where did the innocence go?

Where is the boy I once was? Why did he run away?

I want to take you back to your childhood now.

Let's close our eyes, let's go back.

Everybody close your eyes. Nobody will see you.

LAUGHTER

Let's go back to childhood. Do you remember your first day in school?

I can as if it was yesterday. I didn't know where I was going.

If I knew where I was going I wouldn't have gone(!)

The first time my mother ever left me.

We got past the school railings, she opened the gate, in I went.

I put my face against the railings, "Mam, where you going?"

-CROWD:

-Aw!

How long, how long will I have to be in school for?

-What?

-LAUGHTER

Until I'm 15?

LAUGHTER

You won't forget to come and fetch me, will you, Mam?

But mothers, they care, don't they?

Do you remember, I was always losing my gloves, always losing my mittens?

Remember, with the duffel coats, what mothers used to do?

They used to put elastic up your arm, round the back and down,

and your gloves used to dangle on the end.

We were so poor, my mother couldn't afford enough elastic. Like this!

LAUGHTER

That's why I never got in the school rugby team!

My elastic wasn't long enough!

My mother was always, she... we were poor.

We didn't have no... Children would have name-tags on their back

with their names on, to stop them losing their coats.

-We didn't. We didn't have enough.

-CROWD:

-Aw!

We didn't have enough money for name tags.

I used to tell people my name was St Michael.

And the bullies would always pick on me and I was always fighting.

I was always getting in trouble in school.

People used to think my mother was a ventriloquist.

She'd be, "Get in here now."

"I'm not telling you again.

"Get in here now."

But the thing I hated in school were the exams.

I was hopeless at exams.

Do you remember the school hall?

Do you remember you sat in the exam room?

And the clock, tick, tick, tick.

And you were sat there

with crib notes on the back of your hand.

You were sweating so much all the ink would run.

After about ten minutes, the swots would start.

Remember the swots?

"Sir, Can I have some more paper, Sir?"

I hadn't written my name, then!

And the dreaded moment came when you checked the answers.

You'd be outside the hall afterwards,

you'd written the answer by the side of the paper to check with friends.

"Dai, what did you get for number two?"

"1.78 centimetres."

"What did you get, Harry?" "1.78 centimetres."

"What did you get, Phil?" "1.78 centimetres."

"What did you get, Max?" "I'm not saying."

I think mine's out a bit.

And the question was, define the diameter of this copper tube.

They said, "What did you get the answer?"

I said, "I'm not saying. I don't have to say.

"Mine's different."

They said, "Perhaps you're right and we're wrong. Ha-ha!"

I said, "I don't think so."

They said, "What's the diameter of the tube?"

I said, "17.5 miles."

Do you remember that? You used to do the easiest question first

and end up with a stupid answer, but weren't they stupid questions?

They asked, "Where's 'Adrian's Wall?" I put, "Behind Adrian's house!"

And I had it wrong. He's my cousin, I know him.

My friend in school was Billy Williams.

A terrible, terrible boy, some of the things he's done.

Terrible things.

He had a dog and what did he call his dog? Stay!

He nearly killed the poor dog. "Stay! Stay! Come here, boy!

"Come here, boy! Stay!" The dog goes...

We were in... We were in the Boy Scouts together.

He made me run after all the Girl Guides in their short blue skirts

and sting them all with stinging nettles.

And he had all the dock leaves.

They didn't understand that in Cardiff!

They never heard of dock leaves in Cardiff!

See, money isn't everything, is it?

We used to go to Porthcawl on our holidays.

Do you remember Porthcawl?

All the mining villages they emptied down to holiday in Porthcawl.

Do you remember? Miner's fortnight in Porthcawl.

We had a caravan.

Our caravan was called the Water's Edge.

It was in Cowbridge, it was.

So then we went and had bed-and-breakfast.

We got fed up of camping.

Do you remember, bed-and-breakfasts today, they're en suite.

They're just like five star hotels.

In those days, the toilet was at the bottom of the garden.

Do you remember those? Y ty bach. The little place in the bottom of the garden?

You were always afraid someone would come in when you were in there.

You used to put your foot against the door.

And there is no point because the door opened outwards.

And I remember going swimming.

I remember going swimming in Rest Bay.

And do you remember, do you remember the old knitted woollen costumes?

They were all right until you went in the sea.

But when you came out of the sea,

your swimming costume...

..was coming 60 ft behind you!

You'd be going up the beach like a Grimsby trawler!

Dragging this enormous weight full of shells, seaweed and pebbles.

And the Salvation Army band were playing Nearer My God To Thee!

Would you please welcome back Boyd Clack.

Thank you.

Thank you very much indeed.

Of all the mines, foundries and factories

that have been closed down in Wales these last 30 years,

this next poem recalls probably our saddest loss.

The Outside-half Factory.

I'll tell you all a story, 'tis a strange and weird tale.

Of a factory in my valley, not fed by a road or rail.

It's built beneath the mountain, beneath the coal and clay.

It's where we make the outside-halves

that'll play for Wales one day.

We've camouflaged the mouth with stones from Bradford Northern spies,

from plastic E-type Englishman with promise in their eyes.

And we've boarded up the entrance for the way must not be shown,

we'll tell them all to bugger off and go and make their own.

My dad works down in arms and legs with productions running high.

It's he that checks the wooden moulds and stacks them 40 high.

But he's had some rejects lately,

cos there's such a big demand,

so he sells them to the northern clubs and stamps then, second hand.

It's where Harry Dampers works, it's where the money is best,

but now his health is failing and the dust lies on his chest.

But he'll get his compensation,

though his health's gone off the rails,

when he sees that finished product score the winning try for Wales.

Old Harry Dampers.

But now the belts are empty, came a sadness with the dawn,

and the body press is idle and the valley's blinds are drawn.

Disaster struck this morning, when a fitter's mate named Ron

cracked the mould of solid gold that once made Barry John.

Old Harry Dampers, struck with grief, received the final call.

Old Harry has been taken to the greatest outside-half of all.

His hands are kind and gentle, though they bear the mark of nails,

so Harry stamped him number ten cos he was made in Wales.

And the wheels will go on turning, trams will run on rails...

..to that factory 'neath the mountain

making outside-halves for Wales.

Diolch yn fawr.

This next song,

erm, I wrote and probably was part of the success

of the album Live at Treorchy.

It tells of the story, it's of a time and a place.

It told of all the colliery closures

that were happening at the time in South Wales.

It's a song I haven't sung for 30 years

but it's a song very special to me.

A song called Duw, It's Hard.

# In our little valley they closed the colliery down

# And the pithead baths is a supermarket now

# Empty gurneys red with rust roll to rest amongst the dust

# And the pithead baths is a supermarket now

# Cos it's hard

# Duw it's hard

# And it's harder than they will ever know

# And it's they must take the blame

# The price of coal's the same

# The pithead baths is a supermarket now

# They came down here from London because our output's low

# Briefcases full of bank clerks that have never been below

# And they'll close the valley's oldest mine

# Pretending that they're sad

# But don't you worry butty bach

# We're really very glad

# Cos it's hard

# Duw it's hard

# It's harder than they will ever know

# And it's they must take the blame

# The price of coal's the same

# The pithead baths is a supermarket now

# My clean clothes locker's empty now

# Thrown away the key

# I've sold my boots and muffler

# And my lampcheck 153

# But I can't forget the times we had

# The laughing 'midst the fear

# Cos every time I cough

# I get a mining souvenir

# Cos it's hard

# Duw it's hard

# And it's harder than they will ever know

# And it's they must take the blame

# The price of coal's the same

# The pithead baths is a supermarket now

# But I know the local magistrate

# She's got a job for me

# Though it's only counting buttons

# In the local factory

# We get coffee breaks and coffee breaks

# Coffee breaks and tea

# And now I know those dusty mines have seen the last of me

# Cos it's hard

# Duw it's hard

# It's harder than they will ever know

# And it's they must take the blame

# The price of coal's the same

# The pithead baths is a supermarket now

# Yes the pithead baths is a supermarket now. #

APPLAUSE

# We paid our weekly shilling for that January trip

# A long weekend in London, aye, without a bit of kip

# There's a seat reserved for beer by the boys from Abercarn

# There's beer, pontoon, crisps and fags

# And a croaking Calon Lan

-CROWD:

-# And we were singing hymns and arias

-CROWD:

-# Land of my Fathers

-# Ar Hyd y Nos

-CROWD:

-# Ar Hyd y Nos.

# We got to Twickers early and were jostled in the crowd

# Planted leeks and dragons, looked for toilets all around

# So many there we couldn't budge twisted legs and pale

# I'm ashamed we used a bottle that once held bitter ale

# But we were singing

-CROWD:

-# Hymns and arias

-On your own! On your own, Treorchy!

-CROWD:

-# Land of my Fathers

-CROWD:

-# Ar Hyd y Nos

# Wales defeated England in a fast and open game

# We sang Cwm Rhondda and Delilah

# And they sounded both the same

# We sympathised with an English friend whose team was doomed to fail

# So we gave him that old bottle that once held bitter ale

# He started singing

-CROWD:

-# Hymns and arias

# Land of my Fathers. # On your own Treorchy, on your own!

-CROWD:

-# Ar Hyd y Nos

# So it's down to Soho for the night to the girls with shiny beads

# To the funny men from Gilfach Goch with evil minds and deeds

# One said to Will from doorway dark

# Damn, she didn't have much on

# But Will knew what she wanted, aye

# His photo of Barry John!

-# Cos she was singing

-CROWD:

-Cos she was singing

-CROWD:

-# Hymns and arias

-Brilliant!

-OK, let's go! Goodnight!

-CROWD:

-# Land of my Fathers

-CROWD:

-# Ar Hyd y Nos

-Nos da i chi gyd!

-# And we were singing

-CROWD:

-# And we were singing

-# Hymns and arias

-CROWD:

-# Hymns and arias

-# Land of my Fathers

-CROWD:

-# Land of my Fathers

-# Ar Hyd y Nos

-CROWD:

-# Ar Hyd y Nos. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Nos da! Nos da! That was magic!

HYMNS AND ARIAS OUTRO

# Mae bys Meri-Ann wedi brifo

# A Dafydd y gwas ddim yn iach

# Mae'r baban yn y crud yn crio

# A'r gath wedi sgramo Joni bach

# Sosban fach yn berwi ar y tan

# Sosban fawr yn berwi ar y llawr... #

Thanks, Treorchy.

Thanks for coming back one more time.

Nos da, goodnight and God bless.

# A'r gath wedi sgramo Joni bach. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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