I took down the South Wales song The Miner's Life (called in other areas Miner's Lifeguard) from a South Wales miner working at the now-closed Morlais colliery on the River Loughor, Carmarthenshire and recorded it on my album Gowerton Fair (1977). When Pat Smith and I got together as the duo Calennig, working from Llantrisant, The Miner's Life became our theme song.

Here's a brief history of The Miner's Life: The coal owners adopted The Sliding Scale, which meant that when the market went down, wages went down. The South Wales miners came out on strike, and The Miner's Life was written as the rallying song, to the tune of Calon Lan ("Calon lan yn llawn diogi, techach yw na lili dlos"). Afterwards, the South Wales miners emigrated to America, where American miners adopted The Miner's Life and spread it across the USA. I rest my case!

Mick Tems