Never Any Good
Martin Simpson Lyrics

You were never any good with money.
You were never good at managing finances or making a living.

You couldn't even hold a job,
You couldn't keep a job due to your attitude or lack of skills.

Not steady enough for the office,
You didn't have the temperament for a desk job.

Not hard enough for the hod.
You didn't have the physical strength and endurance for manual labor.

You'd rather be riding your Norton
You had a passion for motorcycles.

Or going fishing with your split cane rod.
You enjoyed fishing as a hobby.

When your grammar school days were over,
After finishing grammar school,

It was nineteen-seventeen,
The year was 1917.

And you did the right and proper thing.
You joined the army and went to war.

You were just eighteen.
You were only eighteen years old.

You were never mentioned in dispatches.
You never received any commendations for your actions in the war.

You never mentioned what you did or saw.
You refused to talk about your experiences in the war.

You were just another keen young man
You were one of many young men who fought in the war.

In the mud and stink of war.
You experienced the harsh realities of trench warfare.

You came home from the Great War
You returned home from World War I.

With the pips of a captain's rank.
You were promoted to the rank of captain.

A German officer's Luger,
You brought back a German officer's pistol as a souvenir.

And no money in the bank.
You were broke when you returned home from the war.

Your family sent you down in the coal mine
Your family arranged for you to work in a coal mine.

To learn to be captain there,
To gain experience working as a leader in the mine.

But you didn't stand it very long.
You didn't enjoy working in the mine and quit soon after.

You needed the light and the air.
You preferred working outdoors in fresh air and natural light.

When the second war came along,
When World War II began,

You knew what should be done.
You knew that you should enlist in the army again.

You would re-enlist to teach young men
You planned to train and educate new soldiers.

The booby trap and the gun;
You specialized in teaching weapons and explosives.

And they sent you home to Yorkshire,
You were stationed in Yorkshire.

With a crew and a Lewis gun,
You were in charge of a team with a machine gun.

So you could save your seaside town
You were providing defense for your hometown from enemy attacks.

From the bombers of the Hun.
From the Germans, who were commonly referred to as the 'Hun.'

And when my mother came to your door,
When my mother went to your house,

With a baby in her arm,
Holding me as an infant,

Her big hurt boy only nine years old,
Accompanied by my older brother, who was only nine at the time and had experienced trauma.

Trying to keep her from harm,
She was seeking your help and protection.

If you had been a practical man,
If you had been more realistic and pragmatic,

You would have been forewarned.
You would have predicted the negative consequences of starting a family.

You would have seen that it never could work,
You would have realized that raising a family would be difficult for you.

And I would have never been born.
You might have regretted having a child at all.

There's no proper work in your seaside town,
There were no well-paying jobs in your hometown.

So you come here looking for a job.
You went to a different place in search of employment.

You were storeman at the power station
You worked as a warehouse worker or stock clerk in a power station.

Just before I came along.
Your job situation changed around the time I was born.

Nobody talked about how you quit,
There was no discussion about why you left your job.

But I know that's what you did.
You did quit your job, and I knew that.

My mother said you were a selfish man,
According to my mother, you had selfish tendencies.

And I was your selfish kid.
I might have inherited some of those selfish traits from you.

You showed me eyebright in the hedgerow,
You introduced me to the plant eyebright, which is commonly found in hedges.

Speedwell and travellers joy.
You also showed me the plants speedwell and traveller's joy, both of which have medicinal properties.

You showed me how to use my eyes
You taught me how to observe and appreciate nature.

When I was just a boy;
You taught me these things at a young age.

And you taught me how to love a song
You instilled in me a love for music,

And all you knew of nature's ways:
And you shared with me your knowledge and appreciation of nature.

The greatest gifts I have ever known,
These lessons and experiences were the best things I ever received.

And I use them every day.
I still rely on these things in my daily life.