I was speaking to Siwsi last night and she says that, yes, she uses the same tune as the hymn Calon Lan (which is certainly what I remember from her gigs) although in some concerts - and I think on some recordings - she does a medley, starting with Calon Lan and moving into what she calls, "the Pennsylvania version" (Miner's Lifeguard). Neither of us tend to think that this is a variant of the hymn. Calon Lan was composed by John Hughes (Swansea, 1872 - 1914) and was particularly popular during the famous (in Wales) 1904-05 Revival so, dates-wise, it sits along fairly comfortably with Rev. Charles Tillman who is *credited* with "Life's Railway to Heaven". However, if it's the same tune as the Weavers Song, and and that one is earlier ... hmmm.

Several of us tend to think that the Calon Lan connection arose with the habit of finding new tunes for these vary familiar words. Calon Lan is particularly fun, even today; I've been at singarounds where people try to find the most unusual tune to fit. I particularly like "Halls of Montezuma" or "Springtime in the Rockies". Anyway, you can certainly swap Life's Railway and Calon Lan quite easily.

As it happens, I'm trying to help another friend unravel a similar situation. She started by working on the Welsh tune, Mentra Gwen, which is a tune name but *also* refers to a popular *metre* in Welsh folk song. The search has included "Jack Hall", "Ye Jacobites By Name", "Put in All" and "Sound a Charge" ... and one source even mentioned the Southern Harmony hymn "Wondrous Love" as a variant. As it turns out, "Wondrous Love" isn't a variant, but it certainly is the metre.

My point being that, what with tune-swapping, metres, etc., maybe that's where people starting drawing conclusions about the tunes being more closely related than they actually are.

Personally, I always thought "Life's Railway" was a variant of "Will the Circle Be Unbroken"...

Oh, and Siwsi also mentioned that Recordiau Sain is about to reissue a lot of her past work (17 tracks) on a new "Goreuon Mabsant" (The Best of Mabsant). Good to hear!

sian