There is a place in Newcastle’s West
Lately it has had bad press
Though people there think it’s the best
The bonny banks of Benwell
The Bonny Banks of Benwell
north east
That’s Northumbria
In the North of England there’s a beautiful land,
A Kingdom of castles and silvery sands,
Where the wall built by Hadrian, the Emperor, stands,
That’s Northumbria
The Pitman Poet
CHORUS : So here’s to the memory of Tommy Armstrong
He was the pitman poet, righting all life’s wrongs
In the words of his poems which are now folk songs
Here’s to the memory of Tommy Armstrong
He was the pitman poet, recording life and times
In the late eighteen hundreds in his verses and his rhymes
When the main source of earnings was working down the mines
And sometimes the wages there were paid back in fines
Mitford Music 