Thanks! So let's ask Geoff...

BILLY THE PIT HORSE

Oh the tough, sturdy miner works hard for his pay,
He'd work through the night and half of the day.
But there's no one works harder way down in the grime
Than old Bill, the pit horse, a slave to the mine.

Old Billy will pull out coal ton after ton
And never will rest 'til his day's work is done.
Then off he will go to his hut made of stone
To rest his poor and tired weary bones.

There is many a young lad I've known in my time
Who's wasted his young life way down in the mine,
Not taking the warning of the flame that blows out
Which shows every miner that trouble's about.

There is many a young girl I've known in my life
Who's lived just to be a coal miner's wife,
For the wife of a miner must be sturdy and strong
And never must worry if things should go wrong.

So come all you young fellows and take my advice
And leave the pit for the fools and the mice.
Never go down a pit-shaft strapped tight in a cage
And you will live to a ripe old age.

Collected by Geoff Drake from the singing of Idris Griffith