A Key I'll Never Use

Verse 1

The coal yard's gone quiet past the arch

They boarded the windows up last fall

My father's hands smelled of soot and steam

Now the depot holds nothing at all

Pre-Chorus

And the gasworks lamps burned low

Down every cobbled lane

The trains still run but they don't stop

They don't stop here again

Chorus

So let the old bricks crumble slow

Let the cranes come haul it all away

I keep a key I'll never use

For a door that's gone astray

Post-Chorus

(Oh-oh, oh-oh)

For a door that's gone astray

(Oh-oh, oh-oh)

Verse 2

My mother worked the laundry on the hill

Steam rising like a ghost at dawn

The girls all scattered north and south

And the building yawned and moved on

Pre-Chorus

Now the cranes swing overhead

Like birds that forgot to sing

And every street I knew by name

Is a stranger wearing spring

Chorus

So let the old bricks crumble slow

Let the cranes come haul it all away

I keep a key I'll never use

For a door that's gone astray

Post-Chorus

(Oh-oh, oh-oh)

For a door that's gone astray

(Oh-oh, oh-oh)

Bridge

I walk the platform where I learned to run

Past signs that point to nowhere I recall

A whistle somewhere far off down the line

And I answer it though no one's there at all

Chorus

So let the old bricks crumble slow

Let the cranes come haul it all away

I keep a key I'll never use

For a door that's gone astray

Post-Chorus

(Oh-oh, oh-oh)

For a door that's gone astray

(Oh-oh, oh-oh)