For two hundred years they had dug up the treacle

The rich golden syrup was drained from the land

'til the village foundations, like rotten teeth, weakened

And they crumbled away like castles of sand.

Under the ground there were great holes and caverns

Where the treacle once was 'til they took it away

Like the blood from a vein it was drained out

And siphoned off and sold to the man who was willing to pay.

In all the houses there were women and children

Most of them wishing they could be with their men

Then a roaring and a rumbling rose up from the deep earth

And their wishes were granted, right there and then.

Chorus:

The ground opened wide like the mouth of a monster

And swallowed the town like a spoonful of food

Nobody survived to remember that morning

They were buried alive when Tamberton died.

More than a hundred and twenty good families

Sunk down in the ground and were lost with no sign

Now they're stuck in the syrup like insects in amber

'til the price of the treacle makes it worthwhile to mine.

Then they'll dig up the treacle ore filled with dead bodies

And they'll smelt it all down 'til the syrup runs free

Then they'll put all the bodies in a hole in the graveyard

Where they'll all stick together for eternity.

Chorus:

The ground opened wide like the mouth of a monster

And swallowed the town like a spoonful of food

Nobody survived to remember that morning

They were buried alive when Tamberton died.