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Question: This is one of my favorite poems!.!.!.!.!.!?
Or is t a song!?

5!.15 a!.m!.
Snow laying all around
A collier cycles home
From his night shift underground
Past the silent pub
Primary school, workingmens club
On the road from the pithead
The churchyard packed
With mining dead

Then beneath the bridge
He comes to a giant car
A shroud of snow upon the roof
A mark ten jaguar
He thought the man was fast asleep
Silent, still and deep
Both dead and cold
Shot through
With bullet holes

The one armed bandit man
Came north to fill his boots
Came up from cockneyland
E-type jags and flashy suits
Put your money in
Pull the levers
Watch them spin
Cash cows in all the pubs
But he preferred the new nightclubs

Nineteen sixty-seven
Bandit men in birdcage heaven
La dolce vita, sixty-nine
All new to people of the tyne

Who knows who did what
Somebody made a call
They said his hands
Were in the pot
That he'd been skimming hauls
He picks up the swag
They gaily gave away
Drives his giant jag
Off to his big pay day

The bandit man
Came north to fill his boots
Came up from cockneyland
E-type jags and flashy suits
The bandit man
Came up the great north road
Up to geordieland
To mine
The mother lode

Seams blew up or cracked
Black diamonds came hard won
Generations toiled and hacked
For a pittance and black lung
Crushed by tub or stone
Together
And alone
How the young and old
Paid the price of coal

Eighteen sixty-seven
My angel's gone to heaven
He'll be happy there
Sunlight and sweet clean air

They gather round the glass
Tough hewers and crutters
Child trappers and putters
The little foals and half-marrows
Who pushed
And pulled the barrows
The hod boys
And the rolleywaymen
5!.15 a!.m!.

Mark KnopflerWww@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
I'll answer with one of my own favorites

Aragon Mill

At the east end of town
At the foot of the hill
There's a chimney so tall
It says Aragon Mill!.

But there's no smoke at all
Coming out of the stack
For the mill has shut down
And is never coming back!.

And the only tune I hear
Is the sound of the wind
As she blows through the town
Weave and spin, weave and spin!.

There's no children playing
In the dark narrow streets
And the loom has shut down
It's so quiet I can't sleep!.

The mill has shut down
'twas the only life I know
Tell me where will I go
Tell me where will I go!.

And the only tune I hear
Is the sound of the wind
As she blows through the town
Weave and spin, weave and spin!.

I'm too old to work
And I'm too young to die
Tell me where will I go now
My family and I!.

? Si Kahn

http://nl!.youtube!.com/watch!?v=cSs7oJYuG2!.!.!.

The stark bleak reality of recession ( and job loss )!.
especially on the blue collared!.
It's very simple but oh so strong
Www@QuestionHome@Com

awesomeee!!!
check mine out
leave a comment!
http://www!.authspot!.com/Poetry/Natalie!.3!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Sounds like it was made for a song!. I went back to the you tube!.!. good song!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

You're on a Knopfler roll! "I don't know how it happened / it was faster than the eye could flick / but all I can do / is hand it to you / and your latest trick"Www@QuestionHome@Com

I am a big fan of Knopfler!.!.think he is a monster on the guitar and while listening to yours found one I had not heard before with another favorite monster of mine!.!.
http://au!.youtube!.com/watch!?v=7WWOPEHgsp!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

very good!. you are the best when it comes to the song of the heart!. you truly are a man of many talents!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I prefer Bukowski's lullaby's!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Probably all songs are poems!.

All poems are not songs!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

A poem with intrigue and suspense, WOW!! Me likes!Www@QuestionHome@Com

While it is truly beautiful as both
it is your words I long to read!.

maWww@QuestionHome@Com

Here I sit,
broken hearted,
come to sh!t,
but only farted!.

<sign in a rest room stall>
it's my faveWww@QuestionHome@Com

"What is a song but a poem put to music!?"
I am sure I have told you that tale at some time or other!.
I truly do enjoy songs (poems!?) that tell a tale, and Knopfler is one who excels at doing so!.
The late Harry Chapin is (still) a favourite of mine!. Jim Steinman has the talent as well!. There are many others of course so I won't list all the names, it would take too long!.!.however!.!.there are also many 'artists' who have not one clue about it!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I read the above lyric and liked it!. Then I opened the link and was very disappointed to find the music totally incongruous!. Had I done this the other way round, i!.e!. heard the video first, I would never have taken notice of the words, and would never have found this song in any way meaningful!.

(The info panel beside the video tells us the video images are simply of the poster's friend, Olano, pictured playing the guitar in the poster's house, and that the music used is one of Mark Knopfler's "anthem"/"grand opus" songs, "5!.15am"!.)Www@QuestionHome@Com