Boys Grow Up Quickly Around Here

By Felix Carroll

Hi all.

Here — a recorded version of my mini-musical, "Boys Grow Up Quickly Around Here." Takes place in early 1900s, and is a dialogue between a boy and a circus boss. 

Click here to hear:

https://soundcloud.com/felixcarroll5/boys-grow-up-quickly-around-here

Cara sings the La-la's.

Here are the lyrics ...

BOYS GROW UP QUICKLY AROUND HERE

I come from St. Paul, Virginia

Where the Clinch River is flowing

I left there 'cause there was

no one there worth knowing

That includes Katie Midge

(I was the first boy to kiss her)

And even my mother

And I don’t even miss her.

Is it true what they say

Is it true what I hear

That you can make a boy

Like me disappear?

In the breath of a coal train

In the pull of an iron chain

I’ll be a working man

Come February 5th, sir

I’ll have 13 years

Boys must grow up quickly around here.

Watch the stake bites, men

pull the sidewalls down

Get yourselves some supper, quick

‘cause we’re leaving this town

The gilly girls are watching

So say your goodbyes

We’ve got a dukey run through Breaks Gorge

Might as well shut your eyes

Yes it’s true what they say

It’s true what you hear

We can make a boy

Like you disappear

In the seconds of my pocket watch

You’ll be buried in a belly box

You’ll be gone

Go on home, son

Your mama’s in tears

Boys grow up quickly 'round here.

I’ve got hands like my father

He chiseled scrips from coal

He was all might and muscle

That’s what I’ve been told

“Chester Sides” is my name, sir

I'm the High Knob King

I’d never put a man to the ground

Unless that man had it coming to him

I was baptized in Cold Creek

in the deep ruts of spring

upon the splintered boards of summertime

I bled from the bee sting

In the hardpan of autumn

A man can't dig a grave

He's traced the train tracks

Through a field of dead daisies

Toward the places a man goes to

When a man goes away

When the scales leave no doubt

About the options they weigh

Upon the thimble of winter

Hangs a thin band of gold

I’ve got hands like my father

That’s what I’ve been told

So it’s true what they say

It’s true what I hear

You can make a boy

Like me disappear.

From the dark dreams of a coal seam

Where a boy can’t see anything at all

Look in my eyes, sir

You won't find no fear

Boys must grow up quickly around here

I’ve seen you before, son

You all look the same

You come down with a fever

At the first drop of rain

You’ve got famine in your face, son

You’ll turn on your heel

Once a towner comes along

And offers you a hot meal.

All you John Robinsons

All you fresh First of Mays

Disappear in a disaster march

You mistake as horseplay

Till the wheels keep on rolling

Till you're so far from home

Till they just keep on rolling

Till they roll on their own

Till we look in your eyes

And see how they're haunted

Haunted by the things

You forgot you once wanted

Was it a pretty girl in blue dress

Who one day you'd marry?

Or a dream of a red streak

Through the high golden prairies?

Will you give down the country

Throw down your fine ways

Subtract your tin soldiers

When you recount your days?

Did you blow out your candles?

Did you made a little wish?

Look up, little buttercup

And listen to this:

Boys eat the icing

Men eat the cake

Boys heads fill with dreams

Men’s hearts fill with ache

Yes it’s true what they say

It’s true what you hear

Boys grow up quickly

And boys disappear …

When some four-horse driver

Leans on the hoof

Just passing through

To tear down your roof

Or when the full-buck wind

blows the curtains inside

against the fires that give light

When you must do or die

When they feed from the trough

When they walk in these shoes

When they plead to Sweet Jesus

For a little of His Good News

When the crow alights at midnight

With a cry as sharp as sin

When you don't bother knocking

‘cause they won’t let you in

Go on home, son

With your eyes wide with fear

Boys grow up quickly around here.

My mother died last week, sir

That’s the truth of all

We buried her in Bickley

Outside of St. Paul

As the sun sank like a stone

over Wise County Ridge

And the truth, sir, is

I never even kissed Katie Midge

But I know about that flood

That took the whole world down

Well, I would have had the sense, sir

To head for higher ground

To the places a man goes to

when you can’t see him anymore

Somewhere past New Camp

and past Roaring Fork

Past the cottontails of Linden

and the table mountain pine

if the wheels would keep rolling

well that'd be just fine

Past Jonesville and Johnstown

Where the brakeman can’t hold 

Where the boys are in bed now

Because they do what they’re told

Well I’ve traced the train tracks, sir

And they brought me to this place

I’m but a stone’s throw away

From the man whom I chase

On the land where our forefathers

Once planted seeds

I'll pound upon iron

Till the earth bleeds

It's true what they say

It's true what you hear

We can make a boy like you disappear

In the breath of a coal train

With the pull of an iron chain

You'll be a workingman.

I come from St. Paul, Virginia

Where the Clinch River is flowing

I left there 'cause there was no one   

there worth knowing

_______________________________________

Words and music: Felix Carroll

Copyright: Felix Carroll, 2012Boys Grow Up Quickly Around Here