Coal Mine Songs

Subject: RE: Coal Mine Songs
From: Young Buchan
Date: 27 Oct 09 - 07:50 AM

The pit at Wardley near Gateshead was closed in 1969 when the coal seam gave out into a chalk one. Dave Douglass who worked on the final shift there told me this was written by one of the miners and sung as they went down for the last time. Usual Lockout tune.

We have withstood the sweeping hand of Robens and his gang.
'Gainst each and every gaffer's trick we stood firm to a man.
We thought we'd got a living wage, but bad luck did us appal,
For the only seam that held our hopes has struck a great white wall.

When first we saw that line of white a peeping through the coal
The gaffer said, "Lads, never mind, it's nothing but a roll."
But day by day it grows and grows, and we're finished one and all,
For there's not a lot of coal to mine when you dig a great white wall.

And there it gleams among the coal, so white and clear and bright
And the dust comes up like London fog or a steamer's smoke at night.
Just like a great white whale she sits, so wide and deep and tall;
But she'll break our backs and take our jobs, will Wardley's great white wall.

In many a long struggle just to earn a living wage
The gaffers and the Union lads together did engage.
No quarter was expected, whatever may befall:
But it's beat us both and closed the pit, has Wardley's great white wall.

Subject: RE: Coal Mine Songs
From: GUEST,Raker john
Date: 10 Nov 09 - 01:48 PM

These are a few off the top of my head:

Paradise - John Prine
Coal Tattoo - Billy Ed Wheeler
Red-Winged Blackbird - Billy Ed Wheeler
You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive - Darrell Scott
Dark As A Dungeon - Merle Travis
Nine Pound Hammer - not sure of the author
The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore - Jean Richie


I'd love to find a comprehensive list of coal mining songs (preferably American) so if anyone knows of one, please post it - thanks!

Subject: RE: Coal Mine Songs
From: Rog Peek
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 10:54 AM

Gresford Disaster Trad?
No Christmas in Kentucky - Phil Ochs
Dogs at Midnight - Tom Paxton
The Coal Owner and the Poor Pitman's Wife - Trad
The High Sheriff of Hazard - Tom Paxton

Rog

Subject: Lyr Add: THE OLD MINER (from John Moreton)
From: Kevin Sexton
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 03:32 AM

My favourite is 'The Old Miner', from Roy Palmer's "Songs of the Midlands" (1972); collected by John Moreton in the early 1960s, from an unnamed source. Palmer notes: "Sung by an old miner in Haunchwood Pit, Nuneaton, Warwickshire... The pit is now closed. The informant originated in Durham, where he had learned the tune. The words were his own."
Recorded by Silly Sisters on "No More To The Dance" (1988)and by Dere & Dorothy Elliott in the 70s:-

Oh who'll replace this old miner
And who will take my place below?
And who will follow the trepanner?
Who, dear God, when I go?

Oh who will wield this heavy pick
That I did wield for forty years?
And who will hew the black black coal
Who, dear God, when I go?

Oh who will ride the miner's train
That takes him to the dark coal face
Who'll take my place upon that train
Who, dear God, when I go?

Oh who will load the great iron tub
And who will strain his bending back
And who will work sweat and ache like hell
Who, dear God, when I go?

And who will cry when the roof caves in
When friends are lying all around
And who will sing the miner's hymn
Who, dear God, when I go?

For forty years I've loved the mine
For forty years I've worked down there
Now who'll replace this old coal miner
When I've paid, God, my fare?

Subject: RE: Coal Mine Songs
From: GUEST,xXxSKIDxXx
Date: 27 Feb 10 - 02:44 PM

does anybody know the song coal loading johnny?if so who sings it?

Subject: Lyr Add: WORKING MAN (Rita MacNeil)
From: HiHo_Silver
Date: 27 Feb 10 - 05:05 PM

This is one of the best:

Workingman - RITA MAcNEIL Cape Breton

It's a workingman I am and I've been down underground
And I swear by God if I ever see the sun
Or for any length of time, I can hold it in my mind
I never again will go down underground

At the age of sixteen years, oh he quarreled with his peers
Who vowed they'd see never see another one
In the dark recess of the mines, where you age before your time
And the coal dust lies heavy on your lungs

It's a workingman I am and I've been down underground
And I swear by God if I ever see the sun
Or for any length of time, I can hold it in my mind
I never again will go down underground

At the age of sixty-four, oh he'll greet you at the door
And he'll gently lead you by the arm
Through the dark recess of the mines, he can take you back in time
And he'll tell you of the hardships that were there

It's a workingman I am and I've been down underground
And I swear by God if I ever see the sun
Or for any length of time, I can hold it in my mind
I never again will go down underground

It's a workingman I am and I've been down underground
And I swear by God if I ever see the sun
Or for any length of time, I can hold it in my mind
I never again will go down underground

It's a workingman I am and I've been down underground
And I swear by God if I ever see the sun
Or for any length of time, I can hold it in my mind
I never again will go down underground

No, I never again will go down underground

Subject: RE: Coal Mine Songs
From: Dennis the Elder
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 09:15 AM

Just a couple more verses of "Workingman" that I have picked up from somwhere, but unfortunatly no idea where that was. Most probably not written by Rita MacNeil. Does any one else know their origin(s)

At the age of 65 I pray to God I'm still alive
And the wheels above the mine no longer wind
And they've finally closed the hole
Where for years they/we clawed for coal
And never again will we go down underground.

At the age of ninety two
And his time on earth all through
Friends and family we all gathered round
We cast his ashes to the wind
For we promised our old friend
That he ne'er again would go down underground

Apologies to the author(s) of these verses for not crediting them, its due to my age.

Subject: RE: Coal Mine Songs
From: GUEST,Tom
Date: 15 Mar 10 - 02:54 PM

The Molly Maguires by the Irish Baladeers
1968 - Avoca 33-ST-162 LP

I have a scratch on my record
and can't make out the last verse of
Up went O'Reilly
about O'reilly talking to Saint Peter
and being denied entrance and
docked for the time he was away

Subject: RE: Coal Mine Songs
From: open mike
Date: 07 Apr 10 - 06:45 PM

refresh...sing a song in memory of the miners who died this week.

also see: http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=126607

Subject: RE: Coal Mine Songs
From: GUEST,Aneirin
Date: 03 Jul 10 - 06:09 PM

Welsh mining songs - "Merthyron y Glo", Niclas y Glais (TE Nicholas)
(Chwi ddewrion y dwfn erwau tywyll...)

Also, from Kent is "Garden of England":-

To the garden of England strangers came one day
From the north to work down the mines.
To the garden of England strangers came one day
And they walked hand in hand with their wives.

And the children played in the green fields
And sang their songs, and danced away the years,
Coming home, kicking leaves by the roadside,
Coming home, walking hand in hand.

To the garden of England strangers came one day
Riding horses down narrow country roads.
To the garden of England strangers came one day
Linking arms and forming battle lines

And the children (etc.)

In the garden of England our children play games
Linking arms and forming battle lines.
In the garden of England our children play games
Of police facing picket lines

And they play no more in the green fields
Or sing their songs, or dance away they years.
Now they all link arms by the roadside,
Facing strangers, forming battle lines.

To the garden of England strangers came one day
Driving horses down narrow country lanes.

Sorry - but I've fogotten who wrote it. All I recall is that she was married to a Kent miner.

Subject: RE: Coal Mine Songs
From: GUEST,ollaimh
Date: 03 Jul 10 - 09:11 PM

alistar macgillvary's coal town road is one of the greats.

but don't forget stings "we work the black seam together"

Subject: RE: Coal Mine Songs
From: Mr Fox
Date: 04 Jul 10 - 07:36 PM

Also, from Kent is "Garden of England":-Sorry - but I've fogotten who wrote it All I recall is that she was married to a Kent miner.

Most likely Kay Sutcliffe who also wrote the lyrics of 'Coal Not Dole'

Subject: RE: Coal Mine Songs
From: Dennis the Elder
Date: 10 Jul 10 - 08:41 AM

I have nor read the full thread so if "Morley Main" by Keith Marsden has already been mentioned I am sorry, but it deserves another mention anyway!!
Beautiful song , sung by Keiths wife Val of Cockersdal, on their CD "Picking Sooty Blackberries".If you are a female singer well worth listening to.

Subject: RE: Coal Mine Songs
From: GUEST,Ray Stephens
Date: 24 Dec 10 - 12:58 AM

Merle Travis sang a lot of traditional coal mining songs as well as his own original compositions. Does anyone know in which category "Miner's Strawberries" falls?

Subject: RE: Coal Mine Songs
From: Jason Xion Wang
Date: 24 Dec 10 - 06:40 AM

I only know:

Dark as a Dungeon
Coal Tattoo
Bells of Rhymney

Subject: RE: Coal Mine Songs
From: Mick Tems
Date: 24 Dec 10 - 07:55 AM

The centenary of the Tonypandy Riots has just passed in the Rhondda Valleys, when 12,000 miners went out on strike to protest at the bullying attitudes of the massive Cambrian Combine chain of collieries, who locked out miners at the Ely colliery in Penygraig. The Home Secretary, Winston Churchill, sent armed troops into the Valleys, an incident remembered in a folk song (to the tune of Clementine):

"Tonypandy, Tonypandy,
Tonypandy, don't forget;
Tonypandy, Tonypandy,
All the Welsh remember yet..."

When The Coal Comes From The Rhondda was a rallying-cry inspired by The Tonypandy Riots. And BBC-1 Wales showed Sophie Evans (runner-up in the theatre audition show Over The Rainbow) singing All The Nice Girls Love A Miner, a 100-year-old Rhondda Valleys parody to the tune of All The Nice Girls Love A Sailor, which was another song inspired by the Riots.

Churchill's reputation was blackened, as far as South Wales was concerned, by his actions in the Riots. As late as the 1960s, South Wales mothers scared their naughty children by telling them: "You be good, or else I'll send Churchill to get you!"

Subject: RE: Coal Mine Songs
From: 2581
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 12:03 PM

Merle Travis wrote "Miner's Strawberries" in 1963. It is included in his album, "Songs of the Coal Mines".

Subject: RE: Coal Mine Songs
From: GUEST,paul67
Date: 20 Sep 11 - 05:26 PM

does anyone know the welsh song about a boy that picks coal with his grandfather? "when he wasnt looking i rubbed coal dust in my face", cmon dygi cmon i said we dont want anymore...

Subject: RE: Coal Mine Songs
From: 2581
Date: 05 Jan 12 - 11:32 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Coal Mine Songs
From: 2581
Date: 06 Jan 12 - 12:43 PM

Check out these classic coal mining songs. Chuck Ragan's cover of "Coal Tattoo" (Billy Edd Wheeler) may not be done in a folk style, but it is brilliant nonetheless!

West Virginia Mine Disaster (Jean Ritchie)

You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive (Darrell Scott)

Coal Tattoo - Chuck Ragan

Subject: RE: Coal Mine Songs
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 01:11 AM

A new song by environmental science writer Andy Revkin: Black Bird, a ballad inspired by the story of his bandmate's great grandfather's death.

On his New York Times "Dot Earth" blog post, Songs of this Fossil Age: A Coal Miner's Death Foretold, he tells the story and links some other songs of his, as well as other coal mining songs. Among the comments to the post, he mentions the Music of Coal website, which focuses on songs of the southern Appalachian coalfields.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: Lyr Add: BLOOD ON THE COAL (Christopher Guest)
From: Mr Happy
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 09:26 AM

BLOOD ON THE COAL [Christopher Guest, 2003]


It was April 27 in the year of 91
Bout a mile below the surface and the warm Kentucky sun
The late shift was ending and the early shift was late.
The foreman ate his dinner on a dirty tin plate

Blood on the tracks, blood in the mine,
Brothers and sisters what a terrible time.
Ole 97 went in the wrong hole,
Now my number 60 has blood on the coal,
Blood on the coal, blood on the coal.

The slag pits were steamin' it was 7:25,
Every miner worked the coal face,
Every one of them alive
The train came round the corner,
You could hear the trestle groan,
But the switcher wasn't listnin' so he left the switch alone!

The walls began to tremble and the men began to yell,
You could hear that lonesome whistle like an echo out...well
They dropped their picks and shovels and to safety they did run,
For to stay among the living in the year of 91!

An Irishman named Murphy said "I'll stop that iron horse!"
And he stood to thwart its passage
And it crushed him dead of course.
And I hope he hears the irony when ere this tale is told,
The train that took his life was burning good Kentucky coal, Hey!

Subject: Lyr Add: BLACK DIAMOND
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 03:46 PM

This is one I posted somewhere before because it is in the DT..but I will repeat it because it is about the coal miners of Black Diamond, Washington..pretty close to Seattle and where we had Rainycamp. Lots of Welsh were there..in fact, they used to come to Seattle to the Welsh sings, and when a group of them walked in the door the singing went up exponentially..goodness they were great.

It is about real live miners who were buried in a common grave..5 were Italian and one was perhaps Slavic? The gravestone says Morte in Esplosione.

Black as a miner's face
Black as a foreman's heart
Black as the weather when we buried them together
Cause we couldn't tell their bones apart...couldn't tell their bones apart

Green the few dollars we earn
Green the wet wood we must burn
By the banks of Green River the miners' children shiver
And they know that it soon will be their turn
Know that it soon will be their turn

White for our sliver of soap white for our last ray of hope
White for the coffin that our town has seen so often
Carried up that wet mossy slope
Carried up that wet mossy slope

Red for the sun we hear shines
And red for the red danger signs
And the fires underground that will burn the year around
In the tunnels of the Black Diamond Mines
Tunnels of the Black Diamond Mines..

Subject: Lyr Add: OLD WORKINGS (Maldwyn Morgan)
From: Paul Burke
Date: 03 Mar 12 - 03:18 PM

OLD WORKINGS
Maldwyn Morgan

Unseen, darkness fills the place where men
Took to task a million years of trees.

Black water runs on rails that have sung
The song of trams.

The end of the tunnel, where the mountain won,
Is wet with drippings and with tears -

A tired symphony of echoes.
That water jack; was it Dai's or Twin's

Or Gareth's - who should have been a clerk!
Look! Those timbers notched by Rees -

Flower stems holding up a forest.
That tram - the chalk mark, what does it say?

Number three hundred and four - a scribbled essay
On living with coal.

Subject: RE: Coal Mine Songs
From: 2581
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 01:42 AM

An Australian songwriter, Raymond Crooke, recently wrote a coal mining song based on the true story of Charles Scott Howard, a Kentucky coal miner and mine safety activist. Mr. Howard took a video of unsafe conditions underground at the mine where he worked. He showed that video at a public hearing held by MSHA, the American government agency that enforces mine safety laws. He was disciplined for doing so by his employer, Cumberland River Coal Company. Mr. Howard filed a safety discrimination case against the company and prevailed, but later (in May, 2011) he was fired by the coal company because of his safety complaints. Mr. Crooke's song tells the story of Charles Scott Howard. It's called "Big Coal Don't Like This Man At All". Check it out below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljtxjFKB718

Subject: RE: Coal Mine Songs
From: GUEST,Marv
Date: 28 Apr 12 - 10:42 PM

Does anybody have the lyrics of a song that has the line "leavin nothin behind but some words on a stone"?

Subject: RE: Coal Mining Songs
From: GUEST,SD Williams
Date: 07 Nov 12 - 05:31 PM

I just recorded this song I wrote in 1985 about the Wilberg Coal Mine fire in Utah. Wanted to share it. Click here

Subject: RE: Coal Mine Songs
From: Dennis the Elder
Date: 08 Nov 12 - 04:20 AM

Thanks for sharing it SD, Certainly worth the 27 years wait for this recording.
It looks like a real family presentation from the list of those involved in the recording.

Subject: Dust in the Air
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 10 Dec 17 - 12:12 PM

re
GUEST,raredance-
Date:?10 May 09 - 11:06 PM
... songs from "'And Now the Fields Are Green' A Collection of Coal Mining Songs In Canada" by John C O'Donnell. University College of Cape Breton Press, 1992.

... Dust in the Air
video link here sung by Canadian choir Men Of The Deeps

/mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=163264