The Mucky Mountains

I saw some mates across Earle Street
They started waving and shouting
Come on lad, we’re playing out
And we’re off to the Mucky Mountains
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When Sankey Valley wasn’t so covered in trees
I guess the year was about ’73,
Pieces of cardboard made a grassy sled
Crashing at the bottom ‘till our knees bled
 -
Overlooking the valley and the winding canal
Was a crumbling rock of a mound,
When school was closed for about six weeks
This was our real playground
 -
Covered in dirt and sticks for guns
Our imagination did the rest
For a few short hours in the blazing sun
We conquered the Wild West
 -
 Across the canal loomed the Sugar Works
A brooding dark factory,
Chancing our luck shouting up to the staff
“Come on, throw us some candy!”
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Now the kids of today don’t seem to go out and play
In the way that we did back then
The mountain is green, no kids to be seen
And the boys have grown into men