Origins: Springhill Disaster/Ballad of Springhill

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Springhill Disaster
From: Newport Boy
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 07:40 AM

I don't know whether this is conclusive, but I have a tattered copy of the Oak Publications 'Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger Songbook' 3rd Printing, copyright 1963.

The Ballad of Springhill is credited as:

Music: Peggy Seeger
Words: Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl

and it's copyright 1960 Sing Out Inc. NY.

This would tie up with my first hearing of the song, by Peggy, in London in 1959.

Phil

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Springhill Disaster
From: Musket
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 07:53 AM

So, there you have it. Thanks Phil.

To the original question, I notice the words have been put on the thread and I suggest that if you use Am as the starting chord, using G, E, E7 you should get it to fit nicely.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Springhill Disaster
From: Bob the Postman
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 08:00 AM

As mentioned in this thread, in an October 2008 interview on CBC Radio Ms. Seeger credited MacColl with the "Down at the coalface the miners working" verse. To my ear this verse has a different rhetorical quality than the rest of the song. I feel awkward singing it because its slightly florid lyricism doesn't quite fit the prosier narration of other verses, even though it does a great job of setting the scene for the disaster.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Springhill Disaster
From: GUEST,Geof C (Plymouth - England)
Date: 21 Jun 10 - 08:07 PM

I first sung this song in the early 70,s in Germany without really appreciating the history and significance. However' as I'm starting to play with a band again this song came to mind. Having read all the comments, history and advice whilst searching for the song, I wil now render it with more respsect. Thanks to all for your help.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Springhill Disaster
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 21 Jun 10 - 11:11 PM

In my living memory there were two mine disasters in Springhill, the first a methane explosion in 1956 and then the bump in 1958. The second closed the mines in Springhill and they have not re-opened since.
Springhill's second claim to fame is as the birthplace and hometown of Anne Murray.
A prison has replaced the mines as the leading employer. The Anne Murray center is a big tourist attraction.

Subject: DT Correction: The Ballad of Springhill
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Aug 14 - 10:28 PM

The version in the Digital Tradition is a pretty good transcription, but I found a few differences in The Peggy Seeger Songbook: Warts and All. Discrepancies are in italics.

THE BALLAD OF SPRINGHILL
(Peggy Seeger)

In the town of Springhill, Nova Scotia,
Down in the dark of the Cumberland Mine;
There's blood on the coal and the miners lie
In the roads that never saw sun nor sky,
In the roads that never saw sun nor sky.

In the town of Springhill, you don't sleep easy,
Often the earth will tremble and roll;
When the earth is restless, miners die,
Bone and blood is the price of coal,
Bone and blood is the price of coal.

In the town of Springhill, Nova Scotia,
Late in the year of fifty-eight,
Day still comes and the sun still shines
But it's dark as the grave in the Cumberland mine,
But it's dark as the grave in the Cumberland mine.

Down at the coal face, miners working,
Rattle of the belt and the cutter's blade;
Rumble of rock and the walls close round
The living and the dead men two miles down,
The living and the dead men two miles down.

Twelve men lay two miles from the pitshaft,
Twelve men lay in the dark and sang;
Long hot days in the miner's tomb,
It was three feet high and a hundred long,
It was three feet high and a hundred long.

Three days past and the lamps gave out
And Caleb Rushton he up and said,
"There's no more water nor light nor bread
So we'll live on songs and hope instead,"
"So we'll live on song and hope instead."

Listen for the shouts of the bareface miners,
Listen through the rubble for a rescue team;
Six hundred feet of coal and slag,
Hope imprisoned in a three foot seam,
Hope imprisoned in a three foot seam.

Eight days passed and some were rescued,
Leaving the dead to lie alone;
Through all their lives they dug a grave,
Two miles of earth for a marking stone,
Two miles of earth for a marking stone.

In the town of Springhill, you don't sleep easy
Often the earth will tremble and roll
When the earth is restless, miners die
Bone and blood is the price of coal

Words and music by Peggy Seeger, ©1963 by Stormking Music, Inc.
Alternate title: Springhill Mine (Mining) Disaster

Note that the book does not give Ewan MacColl any credit for authorship, despite what is stated in other sources. Peggy says that she knew no miners and no mining terms at the time, so Ewan supplied several lines for verse 4 when he came to visit.
The mine disaster at Springhill, Nova Scotia, happened on October 23, 1958. More than 150 miners were trapped, some of them a mile underground. Eighty-one miners were rescued, but 90 died.

Dm C Dm C
In the town of Springhill, Nova Scotia
Dm G Dm
Down in the dark of the Cumberland Mine
G C Am
there's blood on the coal and the miners lie
Dm C Dm C A
In the roads that never saw sun nor sky (2x)

Copyright Sing Out
by Peggy Seeger, recorded by Ewan MacColl
@mining @death @work
filename[ SPRINGHI
TUNE FILE: SPRINGHI
CLICK TO PLAY
SOF

Recording by Tex Koenig: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1s56iDOwGU

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Springhill Disaster
From: Tiger
Date: 15 Oct 15 - 06:05 PM

Yet another follow-up regarding this song, which to me is terribly strong and moving.

I just visited the Miners' Museum in Springhill. Among their exhibits was a two-page letter from Peggy Seeger/Ewan MacColl, written to Caleb Rushton (6th stanza), one of the survivors/heroes of the disaster, who helped boost the spirits of a group of trapped miners before their rescue. They shared song creation credits.

It contains the full lyrics of the song, as posted by Joe Offer, above, which should put to rest some of the Mondegreens I've seen. The only (minor) differences:

Substitute "miners'" for "miner's" in stanza 5

Substitute "says" for "said" in stanza 6

Substitute "or" for "nor" (twice) in stanza 6

Substitute "Eight long days" for "Eight days passed" in stanza 8

Here's the text of the letter:

"Dear Mr. Rushton -

We have followed day by day the progress of the horrible happenings at the mine at Springhill. When the report came through that hope was kept alive by singing, of which you were a leader, my fiancé and I (who are both folk-singers, he Scots and English, I American) wrote the enclosed song for you and all the people there who will sing it. We are also very interested in any songs which you and the others sing, be they very old or fairly new. I hope you will sing this one and appreciate that your bravery has helped many people with both greater and lesser troubles."

Sincerely,
Peggy Seeger (and Ewan MacColl)
Boulogne, France Oct 9 1958

Now, here's a NEW wrinkle. The date of the letter (October 9) is two weeks before the actual incident. Go figure.

There's a New York Times article dated October 30 that contains a number of details mentioned in the song, e.g., 3 feet high and a hundred long, 12 men, 2 miles from the pithead. Looks like that was what Peggy/Ewan were reading.

My guess is that the letter was actually written on November 6.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Springhill Disaster
From: GUEST,threelegsoman
Date: 16 Oct 15 - 04:06 AM

I uploaded my own interpretation of this song a couple of years ago:

The Springhill Disaster (Including lyrics and chords)

As I pointed out in the information I included with the video, I should have checked out the lyrics more carefully when I copied them from a site on the internet, as whoever transcribed them on that site had misheard the name Caleb Rushton and written it as Kaela Brushton which when sung, does sound correct, but clearly is not.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Springhill Disaster - Mondegreens
From: Tiger
Date: 16 Oct 15 - 12:16 PM

A Google search on "Kaela Brushton" produces 370 hits, so you can see how far Mondegreens can travel. People just keep copying stuff.

"Caleb Rushton" produces 1,060, BTW.

It's hard to know what to trust from the Internet.

Like the recipe that leaves out the cup of sugar ... lol