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Headscarves & Hurricanes

by Joe Solo

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1.
Rayner's was rammed to the rafters Full of fisher boys in from the sea Midst the pints and the fights and the laughter There was Marco, and Micky and me Got Settling Day pay in my pocket And new cowboy boots on my feet At the pawn shop I bought back your locket So meet me on Road, top of Manchester Street Chorus: Three Day Millionaires on a Friday And skint by a Sunday night I sail on the tide Monday morning Just don't say goodbye at first light There's many a mate of mine gone now Lost in that bitter black hell But in the way you get used to hard living You get used to hard dying as well Lost Tony and Dave on the Finbarr And when the Ross Cleveland went down It made three in a week That we lost to the deep There weren't a dry eye in this town (Chorus) So don't you wave at the window And I won't take a penny to sea We'll scramble our coins on the corner Marco, and Micky and me I'll be back with my pay in my pocket And I won't want to spend it alone It's three weeks for me At the whim of the sea But your faith will carry me home (Chorus)
2.
Was a rainy day in Rayners My seventh day ashore I'd only stopped in for a couple That turned into three or four With that storm cloud hanging over I wasn't keeping score Was a rainy day in Rayners That day Stood a couple of pints for Pigeon Just to see him right Was some lads in from the fairground Looking for a fight And they left there black and bloodied But they left their with their lives Was a rainy day in Rayners That day Every pint I emptied There was another pulled for me Some lads stopped a minute And some just left me be Wasn't every day you learned You'd lost your only son at sea Was a rainy day in Rayners That day
3.
Harry's gonna meet us with a cab on the docks You must be on the pull, Bill, if you're changing your socks With you hair slicked back, Jack, you'd pass for Capone From Vauxhall down to Dairycoates we're drinking our way home Three weeks in a trawler tossed about at sea By forty foot white horses and the company We've icicles in places, son, a nun don't own From Vauxhall down to Dairycoates we're drinking our way home Chorus: From Frankie's to the Alex and then on to the Cri When Rayners can't contain us we'll drink Halfway dry We're dog tired, quagmired, soaked to the bone From Vauxhall down to Dairycoates we're drinking our way home Rayners has two doorways and a warning shout There's the one the wives storm in, the one the lads slip out The Arctic air has nowt on her she's cold as stone From Vauxhall down to Dairycoates we're drinking our way home Chorus It doesn't take that much to kick it off in the pubs We drove the lads from off the Andalusite out of the snug We're sister ships at sea but here they leave us alone From Vauxhall down to Dairycoates we're drinking our way home We're drinking our way home
4.
With a cuppa and a custard cream And a biro in her hand In a little room on Coltman Street She drew up her demands Full crews on every trawler And a radio man too No more sailing off with kids Or Christmas Cracker Crews Was Lillian Bilocca And Chrissie Smallbone too With Yvonne Blenkinsop And Mary Denness who Had no airs and graces Being just four West Hull girls But set off to change the way things work And went and changed the world Chorus: Like a headscarf on a hurricane They took them on alone If there is no revolution Then you start one of your own Big Lil and her petition It started in the Cri And ended up in parliament Where changes go to die But she told Mr Wilson: "Love, this is down to you. We've come all this way to change the law And I'll stand here til you do." Chorus 50 years have gone now And the fishing's all gone too But when I see Big Lil up there Her lesson still rings true How they may try to crush you And smother out your dreams But revolutions still start over Tea and custard creams
5.
We're on a Steam Out Fisher lads are on a Steam Out Marco's halfway through a Party 10 On the rum again Oh yeah We're on a Steam Out Come on boys we're on a Steam Out The way we're playing dominoes it ought To be a contact sport Oh yeah We're on a Steam Out Fisher Boys are on a Steam Out The crackle coming in from Caroline Is in 2/2 time Oh yeah We're on a Steam Out Fisher Boys are on a Steam Out A Deckie Learner rolls a fag and fails In a Force 8 gale Oh yeah We're on a Steam Out Fisher Boys are on a Steam Out It's like a scrumdown at the Boulevard With Mickey's pack of cards Oh yeah We're on a Steam Out Fisher Boys are on a Steam Out Cook has got a pot of bacon broth Then we'll sleep it off Oh yeah Oh yeah
6.
Sailing Day 03:55
Take it from me, love Don't wash his clothes now If you wash his clothes now You wash him away Take it from me, love And don't wash his clothes now Don't wash his clothes Not on Sailing Day Take it from me, love Don't empty that ashtray You empty that ashtray You throw him away Take it from me, love Don't empty that ashtray Don't empty that ashtray On Sailing Day Chorus: Don't ever whistle And never wear green Go one more or one less But never thirteen Throw one slipper after him -Don't ask me why- And say 'See you later', love Never 'Goodbye'. Take it from me, love Don't wave at the window You do that a wave will come Wash him away Take it from me, love Don't wave at the window Don't wave at the window On Sailing Day Chorus Don't mention rabbits Spell out P.1.Gs Step on em quick If you drop your doorkeys No more than two sheets One the line at a time And keep the cat safe from Him at Number Nine! Chorus
7.
Lucky Ones 02:39
I have good days And I have bad days Pass the ashtray The whisky and the glasses I have good days And I have bad days Close the door, son Keep it from the lasses I drink a little more than I should I sit in here a lot alone I have good days And I have bad days But I'm one of the lucky ones I have good days And I have bad days This time of year their Ghosts all come and find me I have good days And I have bad days Don't you dare say To put it all behind me "Give our love To the wives and to the children" Was the last words anyone heard I have good days And I have bad days But I'm one of the lucky ones
8.
"I know you don't write love songs, But I still think that's a shame. You're in many ways a fool, son, But that's how you play the game. If you ever want a story, Then the greatest one for me, Is the 36-hour widow And the man who came back from the sea. His name was Harry Eddom And he'd rose to be First Mate. He were right there on the Cleveland When she sank in 68. There were 18 hands died with her But that sad end weren't to be For the 36-hour widow And the man who came back from the sea. See Harry'd made a life raft And that raft were washed ashore He trudged 10 miles through a blizzard Fell down at a farmer's door. Back home his lovely Rita Were soon to come to be The 36-hour widow To the man who came back from the sea. I know you don't write love songs But I think back to that year And when Harry kissed his Rita I'm still fighting back a tear. And I'm a tough old man, son, So that don't come easily, But the 36-hour widow And the man who came back from the sea....."
9.
Big Lil hit town and landed just like a hand grenade On the 7.55 from Hull The world once deaf to her now turned up its hearing aid Whatever happened next it wouldn't be dull Three Hull lasses with their best diamanté on With hacks all acting like they're cracking a code Been dealt an 'and they're down here upping the ante on Don't bet against a lass from Hessle Road Chorus Big Lil hits town Big Lil hits town ran the headline Big Lil hits town The newsroom told The orders hold The front page "We 'ant come all this way to not get an answer, love Not dressed in Sunday Best on Tuesday for nowt I'll tell you now we're in no mood for a chancer, love We'll stay down here until we've hammered it out." Kings Cross'd seen nowt like it since Beatlemania Lil, Yvonne and Mary stole the heart of the world Hull's a lot like London, maybe colder and rainier But it gets the best out of its West End girls Chorus
10.
"I was knee-high to your knee When me Daddy died at sea Being the eldest, well, I had to be the earner A sympathetic mate Of me father's he said: 'It's fate! The ship I'm on we need a Deckie Learner.' Well I learned some stuff alright Like how to keep a fag alight If it went out then they called you a beginner When the waves hit twenty foot You felt a churning in your gut And us young uns we'd kiss goodbye to our dinner Now the Skipper's name was Jack And his mood was always black He slicked his hair back like a rock and roller And the rumours they were rife His fishing so upset his wife That she kept a dozen men to help console her The First Mate were Charlie Town He had a weakness for the brown When his wind were up the wisest would avoid him And there was Brynn who come from Wales And reckoned he was hard as nails So they called him 'Scotty' just cos it annoyed him. I asked your Nan to be me wife And son, I've loved her all me life For me she'll always be the Queen of Bean Street And from the day she wore my ring I wouldn't have changed a single thing Not to be the King or owner of the whole fleet She saw Big Lil at Vicky Hall Was with her right there through it all She was a Headscarf Revolutionary your Nan At sea I'd many a close shave But she's a different kind of brave And she made your Grandad here a very proud man Now there was Marco, my best mate, He'd always jump on at the gate With his fags, a change of clothes and a clank of bottles. We'd say: 'One day you will slip. In many ways you're like this ship, Neither are seaworthy at full throttle.' But there came the fateful night The sea rose up and proved us right One too many snifters, well it cost him He were taken from the rail In a great big bloody gale Though me and Micky tried we knew that we had lost him But the fishing's gone now, son The city lost and someone won It's all money now, and everything's a 'venture' The Cri has locked its doors And all the rest are in the wars St Andrews Dock's a bloody shopping centre When we put to sea We were one great big family Though we took orders that a fool would never follow They led us a merry dance But given half a chance I'd pack me bags and sail out there tomorrow."
11.
Chorus: Haul away, boys Haul in the trawl, boys Splice off the ice Or we'll sink like a stone Haul away, boys Haul in the trawl, boys Haul in the trawl And let's head off for home Haul away, boys Ride the white horses Ride the white horses And face down the gale And pray, boys The engines keep churning Just like them Ghost Ships Once prayed for the sail Chorus Haul away, boys For the wives and the children The lives that depended On us getting home To that town, boys The town we were born in The town now in mourning For all that we've known Chorus Haul away, boys For six thousand men, boys Six thousand men like us Perished at sea We're all caught now Caught in this moment Caught in this moment For eternity Chorus

about

This album tells the story of Hull's fishing industry against the backdrop of the Triple Trawler Tragedy of January and February 1968 and the subsequent campaign for safety aboard ship led by Lillian Bilocca and the Headscarf Revolutionaries.

It's a set of songs about a community like no other and how they came to launch the most successful civil campaign of the 20th Century, which has since saved thousands of lives at sea.

It's a love letter to the spirit of a city I will always call home.

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released November 26, 2018

All songs by Joe Solo

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Joe Solo Scarborough, UK

Joe Solo is an award-winning musician, writer, poet, activist, broadcaster and washing machine engineer from Scarborough.

Live he has an ever growing reputation as both a performer and raconteur, being thought-provoking, comical and punch-the-air political often in the same breath.

He is not an artist you forget in a hurry.
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