Lyr Add: No. 26 Mine Disaster (A MacGillivray)

20 Aug 01 - 10:57 PM (#532185)
Subject: Lyr Add: No. 26 MINE DISASTER (A MacGillivray)
From: Stewie

I came across this moving song which I would like to include in a presentation I am working on. Unfortunately, try as I might - with and without the use of headphones - I can't decipher the exact words at the beginning of the second line of the refrain. Can someone assist me these and point out any errors in my transcription? Thanks.

No 26 MINE DISASTER
(Allister MacGillivray)
One winter's morn in '79,
While the snow lay still without
Was four o'clock on a twenty-six wall
As the sixteen moved about
An explosion ripped and it rocked the pit
As smoke from the bottom began to spit
And the silence left would now admit
There are ten men gone

Refrain:
Ten men gone, no time to cry or bid farewell
But the ? they long may dwell
On her ten men gone

Into the depths in the frozen dawn
A clergyman was led
There in a fright his eyes were drawn
To the sight of the burned and dead
With courage bold he did unfold
The grace of God in the tunnels cold
Then the town was sadly told
There are ten men gone

Refrain

'Twas far from home the survivors waged
Brave battles for their lives
Help from many sources pledged
Brought comfort to their wives
But ere the churches hushed their hymns
In sad and solemn requiems
News from Halifax was grim
There are twelve men gone

Twelve men gone, no time …

Oh the colliers' life is a cruel life
As the times so lately tell
Peace to those who have gone before
To the rest, grow strong and well
May God be with you, every one,
The miner and the miner's son
The women and the babies yet to come
And those twelve men gone

Twelve men gone, no time …

Words and music by Allister MacGillvary. Source: Men of the Deeps 'Diamonds in the Rough: 25 Years with The Men of the Deeps' Own Label 02 50398.

--Stewie.

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21 Aug 01 - 12:00 AM (#532205)
Subject: RE: Help req: 'No 26 Mine Disaster'
From: raredance

Stewie,

The line you are looking for is:

"But the mind of Glace Bay long will dwell"

minor editing of verse 2:

The grace of God in the tunnel's cold;
Then the town was sadly told of her ten men gone.

Verse 3 (You have 1,2, 4 & 5)

And in the days that were to come
Great thousands grieved as one.
For the mourning and the mourned
What could be done was done.
Poor Ward and Young were laid to rest,
Anderson, Cooke, their mem'ries blest;
Every man will long be missed of the ten men gone.

The explsion took place in Glace Bay, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia's #26 mine on 24 Feb, 1978. 10 were killed and 6 critically injured, two of whom later died in a Halifax hospital. Glace Bay No. 26 was opened in 1943 and closed in 1982. It was on the Atlantic shore with a 670 foot entry shaft that connected to the coal seam by a 23,000 foot tunnel. At the time of its closing, it extended more than 5 miles under the ocean.

Lyrics printed in "And Now the Fields Are Green: A Collection of Coal Mining Songs in Canada" by John C O'Donnell (1992 University College of Cape Breton Press)

rich r

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21 Aug 01 - 01:39 AM (#532249)
Subject: RE: Help req: 'No 26 Mine Disaster'
From: Stewie

rich r, once again, I am in your debt. Many thanks for your corrections and information. I can see now why I could not understand that line - I failed to grasp that it was a place name. The Men of the Deeps' rendition, with Nipper MacLeod as soloist, is poignant indeed. They omit the third stanza that you have supplied. I have now ordered the book that you cite - sounds like a good'un.

I note that in the second last line of my posting, I misspelled 'MacGillivray', but I got it right under the title line.

--Stewie.

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21 Aug 01 - 09:15 AM (#532375)
Subject: RE: Help req: 'No 26 Mine Disaster'
From: GUEST

Stewie,

I bought the book and a Men of the Deeps CD at a store in Baddeck, NS only 10 days ago. It was my first ever trip to Nova Scotia and I loved the place. I've already used the book for 2 lyric requests and haven't had a chance to really look at it, but it lookds to be a great compliment to Korson's books of coal mining songs from the USA.

rr

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21 Aug 01 - 05:14 PM (#532747)
Subject: RE: Help req: 'No 26 Mine Disaster'
From: George Seto - [e-mail]

Hi Rich, Glad you had the book handy. I fell asleep before I got finished typing it in.

Oh well, you snooze, you lose.

Did you have a good time?

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