You've packed
me up and sent me off to
London town
Said I've got to come back
in a legal gown
Didn't cross my mind
to ever settle down
But I made a fist of it
Five years of study on
the bowling chain
Every day pining for the northern rain
Water of the
Tyne running through my veins
I returned qualified
Met a young
Maggie on the
Hexham scene
We built a cottage by
Jasmine
Dean
Knew each other back
when I was seventeen
But she never held an interest
She was the jewel in my jasmine crown
And though we were living
in a nice part of town
Ten years soliciting dragged me down
I had to make a change
Father was a lawyer before me
But I've always loved machines
The future now needs bathing,
it's the 19th century
The coal will only go so far,
it's a waste not to use the sea
Oh, I'll build a house on the
hillside using hydroelectricity
Designed my first water -powered dynamo,
oh, but nobody really wanted to know
I didn't let it undo me though,
I worked on a pistol
Put the cranes in the dark pines by the
North
Sea
Made a success of my new company,
put me in the
Royal
Society
I now had a platform
The troops out in
Crimea
Needed help with their artillery
We designed a lighter field gun
Sold it to the armory
Then both sides of the
Civil
War
From
Maine down to
Tennessee
I'm not my place to question which side
is set free
In 63 we finished, the family home
We planted around to the floral grove
The water ensured it was always aglow
Up on the crack side
A house like that can get you quite far
Hosted all kinds of beautiful bizarre
The
King of
Siam and the
Persian
Shah
Enjoyed their stay
Why wouldn't they, it's a wonder
Especially how it came to be
I am sure all the guests here
Over afternoon tea
We shaved the hills off
Crockside
Now it's there for all to see
And our spirit will live on
And the whispering of the leaves
You