This song recalls Carey's childhood growing up in Annesley, the now demolished school he attended and the industrial noise of the colliery and engine sheds in the village. The Annesley Headstocks were known as the ' Big A'.The song ends with a recognition of the new Jerusalem, the vast offices and warehousing that has replaced the mine.
lyrics
Annesley Headstocks (Carey)
Here the Headstocks, red and white,
That stood gleaming in the light,
Where now there's just rubble and a hole,
Where the men who won the coal,
Came to work down the black hole,
Beneath the bleak and barren hills of Annesley.
Oh! The school upon the hill,
I can see and hear it still,
Like the colliery, vanished and long gone.
And the Welfare's boarded up,
Where the lads would go and sup,
And send their sons to the Order of St. John.
Clanking sidings yard at night,
Days of steam, trains all black bright,
And the Warren, park pond and the woods,
Now the railway it is back, with its tunnel and it's track,
And it bears the name of mighty Robin Hood.
All Saints bright shining spire,
Of seeing you we'll never tire,
As you look down upon all that we survey,
Look beyond the oak and gorse, and you will see of course,
A new Jerusalem of glass, and sheds of grey.
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