Lyr Req: Last mine of the rhohnda

Subject: Lyr Req: Last mine of the rhohnda
From: GUEST,cujimmy
Date: 11 Jun 09 - 09:03 PM

Anyone know the words of this song - regards - jimmy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Last mine of the rhohnda
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 11 Jun 09 - 11:53 PM

Jimmy, it might help to know the correct spelling of Rhondda.

Anyway, it's in the Forum under Maerdy.

Some more info on My Songbook.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Last mine of the rhohnda
From: Reiver 2
Date: 12 Jun 09 - 03:31 PM

I've never heard it called by that name [Last Mine in the Rhondda] before. Glad to see it's in the DigiTrad as "Farewell to the Rhondda" which is, I believe the real name. Susanne, do you pronounce the name of the valley as "rontha" or "ronda"?? I'm no linguist, but I've understood that the double d in Welsh is pronounced as th in English. I've only heard the song sung with the Anglicized pronunciation. It's a fine song either way!

Reiver 2

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Last mine of the rhohnda
From: Snuffy
Date: 12 Jun 09 - 07:56 PM

Two different songs
Farewell to the Rhondda was written by Frank Hennessey about closures in the 50s and 60s.

Maerdy (the last pit in the Rhondda) was written by Dave Rogers about the strike and closures in the 80s.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Last mine of the rhohnda
From: Ref
Date: 12 Jun 09 - 08:55 PM

Reiver: I think that the "dd" is pronounced like a hard "th."   Sort of a "dth." Maybe it's better described s a soft "t." Aw, heck, if I could talk to you, I could explain it better!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Last mine of the rhohnda
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 14 Jun 09 - 05:38 PM

Ref, you're right. The 'd' is pronounced with the tip of your tongue touching the teeth very lightly and briefly so that some air can escape at the edges. It's close to a soft 'th'. (I doubt that's a better description than yours!)

Also, the 'rh' is an 'r' preceded by an 'h' - one could say the two letters are reversed in pronouncing them. I'm not a Welsh-speaker but colleagues at the Welsh school where I once taught tried hard to drill some Welsh into me. Some of the pronunciation was the only thing that stuck.

And yes - 'Farewell to the Rhondda' is an entirely different song.