> Martin Carthy > Songs > Springhill Mine Disaster

Springhill Mine Disaster

[ Roud - ; Ballad Index FSWB124A ; Peggy Seeger, with Ewan MacColl]

Martin Carthy sang Peggy Seeger's song Springhill Mine Disaster in 1965 on his eponymous first album, Martin Carthy. This track was also included in 2001 on The Carthy Chronicles. Martin Carthy commented in the former album's sleeve notes:

Probably the most terrifying of industrial accidents is the mine disaster. In 1958 in Springhill, Nova Scotia, there was an accident in one of the deep pits. After being trapped underground for eight days, five of them without water, a handful of the miners were finally rescued. This ballad was written shortly afterwards by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger.

Julie Felix sang The Spring Hill Disaster in the 1970s on Folk with Julie Felix & Foggy Dew-O, and Barbara Dickson sang Springhill Mine Disaster in 1995 on her album Dark End of the Street.

Lyrics

In the town of Springhill Nova Scotia
Deep in the heart of the Cumberland Mine
There's blood on the coal and the miners lie
In roads that never saw sun nor sky
Roads that never saw sun nor sky

In the town of Springhill you don't sleep easy
Often the earth would 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 58
The day still comes and the sun still shines
But it's dark as the grave in the Cumberland Mine
Dark as the grave in the Cumberland Mine

Down at the coal face miners working
Rattle of the belts and the cutter blades
Then a rumble of rock and the walls close round
Living and the dead men two miles down
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 foot wide by a hundred long
Three foot wide by a hundred long

Three days passed and the lights gave out
When the leading man got up and said
There's no more water nor light nor bread
So we'll live on songs of hope instead
Live on songs of hope instead

Listen for the shouts of the bare-face miners
Listen through the rubble for the 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 rest to die 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

Acknowledgements and Links

Transcribed from Martin Carthy's singing by Garry Gillard.

See also the Mudcat Café thread Folklore: Springhill Mine Disaster.