Lyrics Charcoal Lane (LIVE at Key Largo '92) - Archie Roach

This is a place we used to know and drink in
When I first went to the cities
And times that uh, things were hard

Side by side, we walk along
To the end of Gertrude Street
And we topple in muster for a quart of wine
Thick or thin, right or wrong
In the cold and in the heat
We'd cross over Smith street to the end of the line

Then we laugh and sing, do anything
To take away the pain
Tryna keep it down as it first went 'round
In charcoal lane

Spinning yarns and telling jokes
Now the wine is tasting good
It's getting closer and closer to it's end
Have a sip and roll some smokes
We'd smoke 'Tailor mades' if we could
But we just make do with some city street blend

Then we'd all chuck in
And we'd start to grin
When we had enough to do it again
But if things got tight then we had to bite
For charcoal lane

So, up Gertrude Street
We'd walk once more
With just a few cents short
And we'd stop at The Builders to see who we could see
Then we barter around until we score
A flagon of McWilliams port
Just enough to take away our misery

Then we'd all get drunk
Oh, so drunk
And maybe a little insane
And we'd stagger home all alone
And the next day we'd do it again
Have a reviver in charcoal lane
Yeah, I'm a survivor of charcoal lane