The Rawdon Hills - Words & Music by Stan Rogers ----------------
D7/F# Worn down shacks of labour past, on a hill of broken stone
Once brought by men to the stamping mills to crush away the gold A7/GEma9 But before it could pass to their sons, the glory left the hole
The Rawdon Hills once were touched by gold
The grandsons of the mining men scratch the fields among the trees When the gold played out, they were all turned out with granite dusted knees But at night around the stoves, sometimes the stories still unfold How the Rawdon Hills once were touched by gold
Bridge: Fma9 Grandsons of the mining men, you'll see it in your dreams Fma9 Beneath your father's bones still lies the undiscovered seam
Of Quartzite, in a serpentine vein that marks the greatest yield
And along the Midland railway, it's still told
How the Rawdon Hills once were touched by gold
Eighty years has been and gone since there was color in the hole And the careworn shades of the hard-rock men surround the old Cope lode And through the tiny hillside farms, the miner's tales grow old The Rawdon Hills once were touched by gold The Rawdon Hills once were touched by gold
(The Rawdon Hills are an area of Nova Scotia, kind of northwest of Halifax. Rumour has it that a long time ago, the Nova Scotia government circulated false reports that there was a big gold discovery there, as a plan to get more people to settle in that area.)
