The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #124480 Message #3423571
Posted By: GUEST
21-Oct-12 - 11:02 AM
Thread Name: Aberfan - 43 Years ago today!
Subject: RE: Aberfan - 43 Years ago today!
I remember starting this thread 3 years ago and was moved to see its revival. A year or so after The Aberfan disaster I heard this song and it took me several uears before I could sing it through.
[1966] Lyrics by Charles Parker & Peggy Seeger Music by Peggy Seeger, Ewan McColl & Critics Group
Grey October in Glamorgan High pitheaps where the houses stand Fog in the valley, backshift ending Children awaken in Aberfan
Warm October in Thi Binh Province Huts of bamboo and rattan Sun comes up - repair gangs stop And children waken in Thuy Dan
Pithead hooter sounds from Merthyr Load the coal in the waiting trams Shoot the slag down the high pitheap While children eat in Aberfan
Ox carts rattle down Thi Binh Highway Work begins on the broken land Night's work ended, the roadway's mended Children eat in Thuy Dan
Dai Dan Evans grabs his satchel Michael Jones his bread and jam Five to nine and the school bell ringing Time for school in Aberfan
School bell ringing, children running Down by the river and across the dam Hot sun burning, time for learning Time for school in Thuy Dan
Lessons started in Pantglas Junior Through the fog a black wave ran Under the weight of the man-made mountain Children die in Aberfan
Lessons start in the Thi Binh schoolhouse And another day began Bombers fly in the morning sky And children die in Thuy Dan
Tears are shed for Glamorgan children And the world mourns Aberfan But who will weep for the murdered children Under the rubble of Thuy Dan?
Grey October in Glamorgan Warm October in Vietnam Where children die while we stand by And shake the killer by the hand.
These children would now have been in their 50s. RIP