Oh, you guys are good. Calon Lan is the tune. I found a MIDI sequence by Barry Taylor at this site (click) - click on "Calon Lan." Cyberhymnal has one here (click).
Thanks a lot, Malcolm and Alice.
-Joe Offer-

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Thread #166752   Message #4012587
Posted By: Joe Offer
08-Oct-19 - 04:09 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Not 'A Miners' Life'! Irish attribution?
Subject: Melody: Miner's Lifeguard

The melody I know for "Miner's Lifeguard" is identical to the melody for the hymn Life's Railway to Heaven, which was published in 1891. The Welsh song, Calon Lân, was written by John Hughes and was apparently also published in the 1890s. The two melodies are very similar, but I don't think they're identical. I think it's likely that the melody for "Calon Lân" would be more familiar to British singers than is the American hymn, so British singers might be likely to use the Welsh tune.

It's quite obvious (at least, to me) that the lyrics of "Miner's Life(guard)" are a parody of "Life's Railway to Heaven."

The Traditional Ballad Index isn't very helpful with information about the origins of "Miner's Lifeguard" - just that the earliest source they've indexed was 1940:

Miner's Lifeguard

DESCRIPTION: A union song with religious overtones. The miner is advised to "Keep your hand upon the dollar and your eyes upon the scales."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1940
KEYWORDS: nonballad mining religious labor-movement
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 730, "Miner's Lifeguard" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 15-16, "(Life Is Like a Mountain Railroad)" (1 text, plus fragments of assorted parodies, of which this is the first)
Silber-FSWB, p. 138, "Miner's Lifeguard" (1 text)
DT, MNRLFGRD*
ADDITIONAL: Jon Raven, _VIctoria's Inferno: Songs of the Old Mills, Mines, Manufacturies, Canals, and Railways_, Roadside Press, 1978, pp. 85-86, "Complaint: Miner's Life" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3510
RECORDINGS:
Mary Travers , "Miner's Lifeguard" (on PeteSeeger01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Life's Railway to Heaven (Life Is Like a Mountain Railroad)" (tune) and references there
NOTES [8 words]: A parody of "Life Is Like a Mountain Railroad." - RBW
Last updated in version 3.1
File: BSoF730

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MINER'S LIFEGUARD (Digital Tradition entry)
(Charles Davies Tillman, words anon.)

Miner's life is like a sailor's.
'Board a ship to cross the waves.
Ev'ry day his life's in danger,
Still he ventures being brave.
Watch the rocks, they're falling daily.
Careless miners always fail.
Keep your hand upon the dollar
And your eye upon the scale.

cho: Union miners stand together,
Heed no operator's tale,
Keep your hand upon the dollar,
And your eye upon the scale.

Soon this trouble will be ended,
Union men will have their rights.
After many years of bondage
Digging days and digging nights;
Then by honest weight we labor
Union workers never fail.
Keep your hand upon the dollar
And your eye upon the scale.

Let no union man be weakened
By newspapers' false reports,
Be like sailors on the ocean
Trusting in their safe lifeboats.
Let your lifeboat be Jehovah
Those who trust Him never fail.
Keep your hand upon the dollar
And your eye upon the scale.

You've been docked and docked, my boys,
You've been loading two to one;
What have you to show for working
Since this mining has begun?
Overalls and cans for rockers,
In your shanties, sleep on rails.
Keep your hand upon the dollar
And your eye upon the scale.

In conclusion, bear in memory,
Keep the password in your mind:
God provides for every nation
When in union they combine.
Stand like men and linked together,
Victory for you'll prevail,
Keep your hand upon the dollar
And your eye upon the scale.

Note: an 1890ish parody on Life is Like a Mountain Railway, ca. 1870
@mining @union @UMW @work @American
filename[ MNRLFGRD
TUNE FILE: MNRLFGRD
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RG

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