I was listening to CBC Radio today, and they were talking about this song.

What Peggy Seeger says on how it was written...., She was living in Paris at the time, and saw footage on the TV about the disaster. Later as she saw other material, and heard the stories coming from the CBC at the time, she was moved to write about it. Later Ewan MacColl came for a visit and since she had never been in a mine, requested his help. He penned the "third" verse, I think she said.

Peggy also said that on a drive through to the Stan Rogers Fest in Canso a couple of years back, she noticed the sign for Springhill. She decided to stop, and met the man she wrote about in the song along with his wife. They spent a pleasant afternoon talking about the song, the disaster and life since.

At the end of the topic, Peggy finished off the segment by singing the last few verses herself. (the first two had been played earlier, sung by Peter Paul and Mary, and Bruce Guthro)