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Uniontown

dhanners623

By dhanners623
in Gibson Acoustic

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dhanners623

dhanners623

Posted
Posted

As I said when introducing another video, what's the use of owning a Gibson slope dread if you don't write protest songs on it? That's what they were made for.

 

So here is "Uniontown," about the coal-mining city in Pennsylvania:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u9rLt9MI-vo

 

I've updated/tweaked the lyrics since recording the video. Currently, they are:

 

Uniontown

© 2016 by David Hanners

 

Our coal made steel, built this land, here in Uniontown

Don't need no college degree to understand, here in Uniontown

Free trade, NAFTA, TPP, here in Uniontown

Might be good for you but they suck for me, here in Uniontown

China dumps steel $400 a ton

In the war with foreign steel, foreign steel won

Here in Uniontown

 

We trusted politicians time and again, here in Uniontown

UMW helped them win, here in Uniontown

Get to Washington then forget, here in Uniontown

Jobs they promised, we ain't seen 'em yet, here in Uniontown

Some billionaire says he'll bring us back

But I think he's selling the same old crap

Here in Uniontown

 

Mines closing one by one

Matter of time 'til they're all gone

Hope is the last thing that dies

But we gave up hope and you ask why

 

I'm a miner like my dad 'fore me, here in Uniontown

King Coal bought homes up and down this street, here in Uniontown

My wife says we should get out now, here in Uniontown

Or the last ones standin' in a ghost town, here in Uniontown

Look around for someone to blame

Immigrants who know God by a different name

Welfare, Mexicans, the liberal press

Never our shortsightedness

Only dinosaurs don't adapt

When the last mine plays out we'll still be trapped

Here in Uniontown

Here in Uniontown

Here in Uniontown

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Lars68

Lars68

Posted
Posted

I like the song very much. Being Swedish, I don't intend to comment on US politics, but I think your lyrics are very powerful too. I think you might have a sister-song in Springsteen's "Youngstown", not as far as melody, but for sure as far as lyrical content.

 

"Youngstown"

 

Here in northeast Ohio

Back in eighteen-o-three

James and Dan Heaton

Found the ore that was linin' Yellow Creek

They built a blast furnace

Here along the shore

And they made the cannonballs

That helped the Union win the war

 

(Chorus)

Here in Youngstown

Here in Youngstown

My sweet Jenny I'm sinkin' down

Here darlin' in Youngstown

 

Well my daddy worked the furnaces

Kept 'em hotter than hell

I come home from 'Nam worked my way to scarfer

A job that'd suit the devil as well

Taconite coke and limestone

Fed my children and made my pay

Them smokestacks reachin' like the arms of God

Into a beautiful sky of soot and clay

 

Chorus

 

Well my daddy come on the Ohio works

When he come home from World War Two

Now the yard's just scrap and rubble

He said "Them big boys did what Hitler couldn't do."

These mills they built the tanks and bombs

That won this country's wars

We sent our sons to Korea and Vietnam

Now we're wondering what they were dyin' for

 

Chorus

 

From the Monongahela valley

To the Mesabi iron range

To the coal mines of Appalachia

The story's always the same

Seven hundred tons of metal a day

Now sir you tell me the world's changed

Once I made you rich enough

Rich enough to forget my name

 

Chorus

 

When I die I don't want no part of heaven

I would not do heaven's work well

I pray the devil comes and takes me

To stand in the fiery furnaces of hell

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Buc McMaster

Buc McMaster

Posted
Posted

Nice work, sir. Everything changes.............except the lip service of politicians. It is not unexpected that changing culture and advancing technologies alter lives in often dramatic, painful ways.

 

(As for the embed, copy the address into the MEDIA button field then remove the "s" from "https".........bingo!)

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dhanners623

dhanners623

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  • Author
Posted

I like the song very much. Being Swedish, I don't intend to comment on US politics, but I think your lyrics are very powerful too. I think you might have a sister-song in Springsteen's "Youngstown", not as far as melody, but for sure as far as lyrical content.

 

"Youngstown"

 

Here in northeast Ohio

Back in eighteen-o-three

James and Dan Heaton

Found the ore that was linin' Yellow Creek

They built a blast furnace

Here along the shore

And they made the cannonballs

That helped the Union win the war

 

(Chorus)

Here in Youngstown

Here in Youngstown

My sweet Jenny I'm sinkin' down

Here darlin' in Youngstown

 

Well my daddy worked the furnaces

Kept 'em hotter than hell

I come home from 'Nam worked my way to scarfer

A job that'd suit the devil as well

Taconite coke and limestone

Fed my children and made my pay

Them smokestacks reachin' like the arms of God

Into a beautiful sky of soot and clay

 

Chorus

 

Well my daddy come on the Ohio works

When he come home from World War Two

Now the yard's just scrap and rubble

He said "Them big boys did what Hitler couldn't do."

These mills they built the tanks and bombs

That won this country's wars

We sent our sons to Korea and Vietnam

Now we're wondering what they were dyin' for

 

Chorus

 

From the Monongahela valley

To the Mesabi iron range

To the coal mines of Appalachia

The story's always the same

Seven hundred tons of metal a day

Now sir you tell me the world's changed

Once I made you rich enough

Rich enough to forget my name

 

Chorus

 

When I die I don't want no part of heaven

I would not do heaven's work well

I pray the devil comes and takes me

To stand in the fiery furnaces of hell

 

Thanks. Yeah, it's hard to beat The Boss. Which makes me think -- he always sticks a woman's name in the song to allude to a girlfriend or a wife. I need to do that, and I think I know a line in the song that could be easily changed to do that.

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sjl200

sjl200

Posted
Posted

I do that, and drop the "S" but I still don't get it embedded. Does it make any difference that I'm doing it on an iPad?

 

All my posts and imbedded vids have been done on an IPad.

Just look at each character

I copy the YouTube vids address bar put the [media] insert vid address here [/media brackets on the post then put curser in between brackets and paste the vids address in and remove the s make sure it's ONLY the s that gets removed

 

NO POLITICAL COMMENTARY

 

Speaking of Tom Russell.....

All this on an IPad.

 

it works for me .....good luck

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fortyearspickn

fortyearspickn

Posted
Posted

For the 3rd or 4th time in less than two weeks - I would like to repeat my request that everyone refrain from posting political comments on this forum.

Forum rules have always put politics and religion off limits.

Even if the political discussion is presented in the form of a 'protest song', it becomes political comment when it singles out parties or politicians

Even if posting Saturday Night Live skits seems amusing and harmless - it is still political comment when it ridicules a politician.

 

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dhanners623

dhanners623

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Posted

For the 3rd or 4th time in less than two weeks - I would like to repeat my request that everyone refrain from posting political comments on this forum.

Forum rules have always put politics and religion off limits.

Even if the political discussion is presented in the form of a 'protest song', it becomes political comment when it singles out parties or politicians

Even if posting Saturday Night Live skits seems amusing and harmless - it is still political comment when it ridicules a politician.

 

I guess Gibson owner/player Woody Guthrie would've been unwelcome here....

 

My song is about the coal industry. Simple as that.

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dhanners623

dhanners623

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dhanners,

I live about 45 minutes from Uniontown. Those words do describe the town, as well as many other rust belt towns, very well. The line about our own short sightedness is the truest in the song. I enjoyed it, thanks for sharing.

 

Thanks. That means a lot coming from a local.

 

As a 20-year union member (CWA) I feel for the men and women in the coal and steel industry. But I think smart people realize if you have a good thing, you might not have it tomorrow so you make plans for what's next. Hard to do that when the money is rolling in, though. And, as always, hindsight is 20/20.

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