Standard (EADGBE)

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

 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

Grandsons of the mining men, you'll see it in your dreams

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

Notes:

(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.)