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Anthracite Fields: Breaker Boys
Julia Wolfe
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๐ฌ๐ง English ยท Original
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Translation
Bilingual
Mickey Pick-Slate
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Early and late
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Mickey Pick-Slate
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Early and late
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Mickey
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Mickey (Micky Pick-Slate)
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Early and late
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(Mickey) Mickey Pick-Slate
Early and late
That was the poor little breaker boys fate
Mickey (That-was-the-poor-little-breaker-boys-fate)
Mickey
Mickey Pick-Slate, early and late
(That was the poor little breaker boys fate)
(Mickey) Mickey Pick-Slate, early and late
That was the poor little breaker boys fate
(Mickety pickety rickety tickety lickety splickety)
(Mickety pickety rickety tickety lickety splickety)
That was the poor little breaker boys fate
(Kickety, kickety, kick, kick, kick, kick)
(Kickety, kickety, kick, kick, kick, kick)
That was the poor little breaker boys fate
Eight years, nine years, ten years, twelve years
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Six years, seven years, thirteen, fifteen, fourteen
Eleven, seventeen, eighteen, sixteen
Mickey, Mickey, Mickey, Mickey
(Mickey) Mickey Pick-Slate, early and late
That was the poor little breaker boys fate
(Mickey) That was the poor little breaker boys fate
Mickey (pickety rickety tickety lickety splickety)
(Mickey) pickety rickety tickety lickety splickety
(Mickey) pickety rickety tickety lickety splickety
Mickey
That was the poor little breaker boys fate
Mickey (pickety rickety tickety lickety splickety)
(Mickey) pickety rickety tickety lickety splickety
(Mickey) pickety rickety tickety lickety splickety
(Mickey) pickety rickety tickety lickety splickety
(Mickey) pickety rickety tickety lickety splickety
Mickey, mickey, mickey, mickey
Mickey, mickey, mickey, mickey
Mickey, mickey, mickey, mickey
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Mickey, mickey, mickey, mickey
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Oh what a place
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You sat on a hard seat
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You didn't dare cushion it
No matter
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You had to sit on that plain plank
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Plain plank
No matter
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With your feet in the shoot, on a plain plank
Bent over like this
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Bent over like this
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Well I'll tell you it was very scary
Believe me
Believe me
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"I don't know how in the world I got the nerve
To go there in the first place
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You didn't dare say anything
You didn't dare quit
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Because it was something to have a job at
Eight cents an hour
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You didn't wear gloves
You didn't dare
You weren't allowed to wear gloves
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"Your fingernails
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You had none
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The ends of them
Would be bleeding every day from work
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Bleeding every day
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Mickey Pick-Slate
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Early and late
That was the poor little breaker boys fate
(A poor simple woman at the breaker still waits)
To bring home her poor little Mickey Pick-Slate
Inor minor mona mai
Pascor lahra bonor bai
Eggs butter cheese bread
Stick stock stone dead
'em up and stick 'em down
Stick 'em in the old man's crown
Snail, snail come outa your hole
Or else I'll beat you black as coal
Black as coal, black as coal
Stone dead, stone dead
Black as coal, black as coal
Black as coal, black as coal
Once a man and twice a boy
Oh you are my pride and joy
Twice a boy and once a man
Catch me catch me if you can
Catch me, catch me, catch me, catch me
Mickety pickety rickety tickety lickety splickety
(Catch me, catch me, catch me, catch me)
Black as coal, black as coal
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Mickety pickety rickety tickety lickety splickety
Ten little angels dressed in white
Tryin' to get to heaven on the tail of a kite
But the kite string broke and down they fell
Instead of going to heaven the went to
Heaven, heaven, heaven, heaven
Heaven, heaven, heaven, heaven
Heaven, heaven, heaven, heaven
Nine little angels, eight little angels
Heaven, heaven, heaven, heaven
Heaven, heaven, heaven, heaven
Heaven, heaven, heaven, heaven
Heaven, heaven, heaven, heaven
Seven little angels, six little angels
Heaven, heaven, heaven, heaven
Heaven, heaven, heaven, heaven
Heaven, heaven, heaven, heaven
Heaven, heaven, heaven, heaven
I am king of the castle. I am king
I am king of the castle
King of the castle. I am king
I am king of the castle you are a dirty rascal
*Everything in quotes excerpted and adapted from an interview with
Anthony (Shorty) Slick (breaker boy) from the film "America and Lewis
Hine" directed by Nina Rosenblum
Daedalus Productions, Inc
Other text based on children's street rhymes
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