A Hundred Challenging Things a Boy Can Do - Darren Hayes, Ash Howes

It was a coal town

He spent his whole life in a hole in the ground

Smashing pieces of earth

He never really saw the sky

It was a hard life

But little black rocks make the televisions work

And put food on the table

Until the unions cast him aside

Now there’s a hundred challenging things a boy can do

When you’ve waved goodbye and held more tears in

Than anyone ever should

And all my sorrows pale to insignificance

That’s why I love you

She was in a strange land

She taught herself to read from doing crosswords

And hiding her accent

She cast her dreams aside

She had a spark in her eye

She never saw her son on his wedding day

Or our cherry blossoms, falling down from the sky

Now there’s a hundred challening things a boy can do

When you’ve waved goodbye and held more tears in

Than anyone ever should

And all my sorrows pale to insignificance

That’s why I love you

No coal mines

No not a trace

Now shopping malls take their place

No picket lines

The sacrifice

Dreams overrun

Hopes for a future for her son, in Ollerton

Now there’s a hundred challenging things a boy can do

When you’ve waved goodbye and held more tears in

Than anyone ever should

And all my sorrows pale to insignificance

That’s why she loves you

A hundred challenging things a boy can do

Wave goodbye

Wave goodbye

A hundred challenging

Say goodbye to you