Come sail with me love, let us go catch the tide
Get away from all this, from the pain and the pride
Let us drift on the ocean beneath the blue sky
If we run now we'll make it, let's run and we'll go catch the tide

When I was a young girl you were in your prime
A melting shop chap and you swore you'd be mine
With a face black as coal from the heat of the fire
And those lovely strong hands that I'd always admire

Steel's a strong trade and we'll always have this
When you heard from your mates they were closing the pits
They'll need steel for these new fancy cars
Though I know you loved helping the shipwrights by far

While you were so hopeful I knew there's no chance
While the fools up at Whitehall did their bloody dance
One by one, I watched as they fell
And when you came home that day you knew I could tell

You shouted in anger there's no bloody jobs
For a man who is fifty and worked like a dog
And you stood there so silent I watched the tears fall
My melting shop chap who had always stood tall

It was a cold winter's night I awoke from my sleep
There was no one beside me downstairs you did creep
I lay there so silent, I heard the chair fall
My melting shop chap who had always stood tall.