Lyr Add: Prospect's Old Lady (Sue Haithwaite)

Subject: Lyr Add: PROSPECT'S OLD LADY (Sue Haithwaite)
From: Red and White Rabbit
Date: 10 Sep 04 - 01:41 AM

Don Hirst in Australia has bee trying to get hold of these lyrics but we seem to have problems with e-mails!so please firgive this use of mudcat for a personal e-mail as I am not sure of his mudcat name.

Prospect's Old Lady was the huge chimney for the Prospect Mill that stood at the end of the Colne Valley in Longwood up until 1997 when it was demolished.

The song tells the history of the Colne valley cloth trade that had already begun to disappear when I moved to Huddersfield in 1987. The valley was full of factories and smoking chimneys now only one remains in use most have been knocked down and houses built in their place.

I live in the hill above the valley and the chimney dominated the valley and poked its head up above the sky line of the hill. The village was shut down and the schools in the valley all came to watch the old lady fall as they dynamited her base to get her to fall.
Only the old water tower remains of the mill amongst the new housing development which was the only part the villagers could get designated a listed building.
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PROSPECTS OLD LADY
Sue Haithwaite
2002

CHORUS: Down, down tumbling down to the ground
To the ground
Down down tunmbling down to the ground
Whats that sound

At the foot of the Pennines twixt the Colne and Pole Moor
Where a grit-stone escarpment makes Longwood Edge Wall
The valley was once filled with oaks strong and tall
And in autumn the leaves tumbled down

The weavers they worked in their cottages small
Then the landowners came and they built their great halls
The waulker mills grew; there were changes galore
And the trees came tumbling down

Huge watermills powered the first factories
A beautiful landscape then brought to its knees
The river diverts from its course to the sea
And the water came tumbling down

Then you came along to watch over us all
Majestic old lady you stood straight and tall
In your dark smoky shadows children sparked clogs, played ball
And laughed as they all tumbled down

'Twas hard graft for all those who worked in the mill
The bosses grew rich as the workers grew ill
But when there's no profit then there is no will
And the trade came tumbling down

Queen of the valley for years standing proud
The rain drizzled down as the siren screeched loud
And a reverend silence fell over the crowd
As you came tumbling down

I listen but now no more factory sounds
No smoke fills the air; there's no cloth to be found
And where you once stood, houses spring from the mound
Where your bricks came tumbling down

(Repeat chorus twice at end changing last line second time to)

There's no sound

Subject: RE: Prospects Old Lady - song for Don Hirst
From: GUEST,Don Hirst
Date: 10 Sep 04 - 01:53 AM

Thanks Sue! There were just a few lines here and there that I didn't get. Now I do. Love the lyrics, very 'our family'. We probably worked there. Am sending stuff to you this week.
Emailed you today -don't know if it got through. I surrender to the inadequacies of the internet.
Thanks
Don

Subject: RE: Prospects Old Lady - song for Don Hirst
From: Red and White Rabbit
Date: 10 Sep 04 - 01:17 PM

Hi Din - no it didnt get through - glad you liked it
Sue