Found this looking into the old nursery rhyme. It’s a spiritual successor to John Barleycorn and a beautiful little ditty. Go support the author here and here.
Under the ground lay Old King Coal He lay most peacefully He ruled in might and splendour There was none so grand as he But men came along to tunnel him out And topple him from his throne The tore him down to steal his crown For the power in the old black stone (Chorus) There’s fire in the heart of Old King Coal There’s the strength of centuries in his soul There’s a power that grows where his black blood flows So here’s to Old King Coal So they scratched him, hacked him, and harried him out They ripped him from his bed And they blasted his bones asunder They’d sworn to see him dead Then they carried him out to the sun’s bright light Which blinded him in the eye And the blood did drain from every vein Until they’d drained him dry (Chorus) Then they cracked his bones on the grinding stones How gleefully they did grind Oh how they pulverized him Turned him to dust so fine Then they sprayed him into the furnace fire And burned him in the air With a mighty blast they burned him fast As he prayed his final prayer (Chorus) And his soul cried out with a final song As he reached his final hour And his heart it burst with singing So mighty was the power And he sang the water into steam And the steam mnade the wheels fly round And the song ran on both pure and strong Till the wires hummed with its sound (Chorus) Out of the darkness there comes light Out of the earth comes fire Out of the cold comes comfort As his bones go blazing higher And his soul flies out through the air we breathe And down on the earth we tread That humankind may not forget That Old King Coal is dead (Chorus)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7qJN2klmwc
5:15 AM
Snow laying all around
A collier cycles home
From his night shift underground
Past the silent pub
Primary school, workingmen's club
On the road from the pithead
The churchyard packed with mining dead
[Verse 2]
Then beneath the bridge
He comes to a giant car
A shroud of snow upon the roof
A Mark X Jaguar...
https://genius.com/Mark-knopfler-5-15-am-lyrics