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English Electric (part two) hi​-​resolution audio

by Big Big Train

/
1.
Shaped for speed strong on the wing the sketches and designs were made, frames were laid by hand-picked men. Working every hour they had to build the fire to make the engine; looking to the road ahead blows are struck to forge the steel so she can fly. The road is clear and words remain unsaid. He walks the high wire with the engines and men of the line. He sees love, he sees hope, he sees everything that they are; the need to fly far. He sees love. Men as giants, hammers falling, the works’ own heartbeat. Furnace stacks with black smoke rising steal the clean air. (here she comes) Joe and Tommy on the plate their caps are worn in racing style, elbows jutting from the cab. Working every hour they had to build the fire to drive the engine; looking to the road ahead. There was a lonely voice and it spoke these words: ‘run hard as you like for the engines and men of the line’. He sees love. he sees hope, he sees everything that they are; the need to fly far. He sees love. Men as giants feed the engine build the fire from cold. Coal and water fire and steam to drive the pistons home. He sees love. They ran south working up the bank past the upturned faces of the platelayers. She starts to take her wing, she jumps to it like a living thing, made for speed and in full cry they gave her the road and she holds to the line. Church bells call a beat along the track she burns with the substance of the land. Racing through the circling lines a rocket in blue at two miles a minute, embers stream along her sides; from this far away now, she flies with them into sky into history into legend she flies…
2.
Swan Hunter 06:20
As a kid I’d see the ships Slowly taking shape Nightshift riveters and caulkers Keeping us awake My dad worked at Swan In the Neptune Yard Worked the slipways in all weather 7.30 start Call me up boy Sit you down by the fireside spend some time All the pride boy And the tears Tears enough to fill the Tyne Gleaming vessels Filling up the sky Dwarfing rows of terraced houses Larger than life Tell me what do you do When what you did is gone No one throwing you a lifeline How do you carry on? Call me up boy Sit you down by the fireside spend some time All the pride boy And the tears Tears enough to fill the Tyne So much larger than life From father to son We carry it on It isn’t going change the world It isn’t going to change the past ‘Cos some things are meant to last So much larger than life From father to son We carry it on Call me up boy Sit you down by the fireside spend some time All the pride boy And the tears Tears enough to fill the Tyne
3.
Worked Out 07:30
Come on lads, walk beside me one more time into the darkness further than we’ve ever been before. Come on lads, walk in line we work the coalface work the longwall. Following on from our fathers and brothers into the depths of the lower measures light from a distant sun plays across the shore oceans rise and fall. Wild untamed and unknown places were nothing to us, fell before us. We shaped the land we changed the skyline we had our day our day is over. Following on from our fathers and brothers out of the depths of the lower measures light from a distant sun plays across the shore oceans rise and fall. We’re working men, we follow the seam under the hills to the end of the lode. We’re working men, we follow the seam under the fields to the end of the lode, it’s the end of the road. So come on lads, walk beside me one last time into the darkness. Out across the open skyline shafts are capped and wheels stop turning. Following on from our fathers and brothers out of the depths of the lower measures light from a distant sun plays across the shore oceans rise and fall. We’re working men...
4.
Leopards 03:54
When leopards Say they can change They don’t mean a single word That they say No... Because leopards Promise the earth For all they’re worth Swear blind They feel the same Making the same mistakes As long as they realise That’s all they can do (Promise) That they’re going to keep trying too Join the spots (Dot to dot) Revealed the hidden picture Now comes clearly into view (Hey it’s you !) Cross your heart (Hope to die) Should they ever tell a lie Oh my Oh my Join the spots (Dot to dot) Revealed the hidden picture now Comes clearly into view (Hey it’s me too !) Cross our hearts (Hope to die) Should we ever tell a lie Oh my, Oh my As long as we realise That’s all we can do (Promise) That we’re going to keep on trying (Be honest) Yes, that’s the way that we’ll pull through If you try I promise I will keep trying too Hey leopard What do you say leopard?
5.
Keeper of abbeys, his name was carved in the grey stone, it was the angel of the north. Reaching for a last remnant of the light; it catches the high stones. He came down from the moors, he’d seen much better days, he set himself to the rain. Keeper of abbeys, his name was carved in the grey stone, it was the angel of the north. Reaching for the light rising like the cooling towers of the edgelands. Weathered like the stone, long ago he set himself to the rain. Keeper of abbeys, his name was carved in the grey stone, it was the angel of the north. In his eyes, the embers of love, fading and failing, if you look close if you look hard, you can see the traces. He has become the stones; weathered to fall reaching for the last dying ray of light in a valley in the north where a river runs its course. (he had wanted to travel…)
6.
The farmer working in the fields before the sunrise, the inland navigators heading for the far skies. Up on the hills amid the silence of the high moors, down in the valleys, by the rivers and the dry stone walls. That is where you will find them out there, working by the hedgerows. In the rain and the snowfall you’ll find them out there, high against the skyline. In the mines and the headings you’ll find them, down there dreaming of the daylight. The line will hold; the mark of man upon the land; the inland navigators reaching for the far skies.
7.
She likes to walk down the lanes to the fields. In the woods, she finds a stream, the water feels cold in the cup of her hands. Down among the trees she spies butterflies against the leaves. With one brush of her hand they are captured and taken. From the top of the hill, looking over the edge, so far out of reach further and further away. She likes to see all the colours of the wings beneath the glass. Then she turns down the light to keep them from fading away. She likes to walk by the stream down to the shore, from the source to the sea. Looking over the edge where the sky meets the waves, so far out of reach; with just one step, she’d be free, with one bound, with one leap. A part we all play, the end is the start, is the place where we came from. Looking over the edge counting the waves follow the faultlines up the side of the hill the marks of an ancient sea you can see the traces. At the end of the hedgerow out of the field, looking over the edge as far as you can see under the ordinary light. She loved the colours of the wings against the green the first thing she saw the last she hopes to see the parts we play, the start the end, and everything, everything in-between. She likes to walk by the stream down to the shore, from the source to the sea. Looking over the edge where the sky meets the waves, so far out of reach; with just one step, she’d be free.

credits

released March 4, 2013

Big Big Train is:

Nick D’Virgilio
Dave Gregory
David Longdon
Danny Manners
Andy Poole
Greg Spawton

Produced by Andy Poole

Recorded by Big Big Train at English Electric Studios
Drums, brass band and violin recorded by Rob Aubrey at Aubitt Studios
String section and double bass recorded by Ken Brake at Regal Lane Studios
Recorder on The Permanent Way recorded by Edo Spanninga at Studio Aurelia

Mixed and Mastered by Rob Aubrey at Aubitt Studios

Cover and booklet photography by Matt Sefton
Portrait photograph by Willem Klopper
Design by Andy Poole
Curator: Greg Spawton

Website:
www.bigbigtrain.com

Join our forum at:
www.facebook.com/groups/bigbigtrain

Big Big Train would like to thank: Rob Aubrey and Ken Brake for their extraordinary recording skills; Kathy Blatchford and Nellie Pitts for office management and merchandise; everyone at GEP; Chris Topham at Plane Groovy; Dave Desmond, Rachel Hall, Louis Philippe and Andy Tillison for their wonderful arrangements and musicianship; Willem Klopper and Matt Sefton for their photography.

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Big Big Train UK

'The standard-bearers of new UK prog' MOJO

Big Big Train have revisited the sound world of early Genesis and Yes and have managed to create music with great emotional clout’ THE TIMES

'They make beautiful, pastoral quintessentially English music: their name is Big Big Train”
BOB HARRIS, BBC RADIO 2
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