James Anderson's song, Rough but Honest Miner, the album's title track, is set to the popular Scots song by James Ballantine, Castles in the Air, sung by many miners, overlanders and stage performers. Ballantine in turn had used the tune of Bonny Jean of Aberdeen. This tune was also used for The Ball of Kirriemuir and the Irish The Stuttering Lovers. It was printed at least 13 times in Scots song and tune books from 1725 to 1790.

(I haven't posted to the list before so hope I've followed the instructions correctly!)

Cathryn

THE ROUGH BUT HONEST MINER
Words by James Anderson, Williams Creek,
7th May 1867, Cariboo Sentinel

The Rough but Honest miner
What toils night and day,
Seeking for the yellow gold
Hid among the clay—
Hawkin' on the mountain side,
What he does there
Ah! The old dreamer's
Building castles in the air.
His weather-beaten face
And his sore-worn hand
Are tell-tales to all
If the hardships that he stands;
His head may grow gray
And his face full o' care,
Hunting after gold
With its castles in the air.

He sees the old channel
Buried in the hill
Filled full of nuggets—
So goes at it with a will,
For long weeks and months,
Driftin' late and early,
Cutting out a door
To his castle in the air.
He hammers at the rock,
Believin' it's a rim,
When ten to one 'tis nothing
But his fancy's whim—
Sure when he gets thro'
He'll find his hame-stake there;
There's miners more than one
Built this castle in the air.

He thinks his pile is made,
And he's goin' home in fall—
He joins his dear old mother,
His father, friends and all,
His heart e'en jumps wi' joy,
At the thoughts of bein' there,
There's many a happy minute
Buildin' castles in the air.
But hopes that promised high
In the springtime of the year,
Like leaves of autumn fall
When the frost of winter's near
So his buildin' tumbles down
With another blast o' care
'Til there's no stone left standing,
Of his castle in the air.

"Toiling and sorrowing
On thro life he goes;
Each morning sees some work begun,
Each evening sees it close,"—
But he has all the grit,
Tho' his tum-tum may be sair,
For another year is coming,
With its castles in the air.
Tho fortune may not smile,
Upon his labors here
There is a world above,
Where his prospects will be clear—
If he now accepts the offer,
Of a stake beyond compare—
A happy home for all,
With a castle in the air.