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San José Mine

Jack Warshaw
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Jack Warshaw

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[2010]
Lyrics & Music by Jack Warshaw

About the mining accident occurred on August, 2010 in San José de Copiapó (Chile)..

PHO-10Apr06-216494

Fuerza Hermanos
Estoy Frank Lobos Ramirez,
I work in the San José Mine,
Thirty two compañeros are with me
Down at the end of this line..
We sweat where the sun never shines
In the land where copper is king
Buried way down in the mine
We wait and we hope and we sing:

Go tell my sweetheart I love her
Give her this letter I write
God only knows if we'll make it
Out of this dark endless night..
God only knows if we'll make it
Out of this dark endless night..

Ten years I've been driving this tunnel
Loading the rich copper ore
To make the bright metal we treasure
And count up my wages once more..
The company suppressed all the warnings
Miners have died here it's true
They said it was safe to continue
It depends on your point of view.

Go tell my sweetheart I love her
Give her this letter I write
God only knows if we'll make it
Out of this dark endless night..
God He only knows if we'll make it
Out of this dark endless night..

We know that our loved ones are waiting
Day and night keeping watch overhead
They tell tender stories about us
We sing and write letter instead
Simpatico is our fair country
Simpatico sweethearts and wives
Give thanks to our people so gentle
Who dream they may see us alive..

Go tell my sweetheart I love her
Give her this letter I write
God only knows if we'll make it
Out of this dark endless night..
God only He knows if we'll make it
Out of this dark endless night..

It was early one morning in August
The main shaft started to groan
Next moment without any warning
There was ten million tons of stone..
Will the company learn by experience
Will our brothers be safe from now on
Or will it be adios compañeros
Far from the San Jose mine..

Go tell my sweetheart I love her
Give her this letter I write
God only knows if we'll make it
Out of this dark endless night..
God only knows if we'll make it
Out of this dark endless night..

Contributed by giorgio - 2013/6/13 - 08:52


New verse added 14 October 2010:

The world watched as each of us surfaced
Rising up to a moment of fame
The air filled with cries of rejoicing
For our future will not be the same
May their tribute unite all our people
So miners can work without fear
If they ask what we had to contend with
Tell them God and the Devil were here

Oct 13, 2010: The second miner to reach the surface, Mario Sepúlveda, said «God and the Devil were down there…God won».
But after leaving the hospital, he said: «All 33 trapped miners, practicing a one-man, one-vote democracy, worked together to maintain the mine, look for escape routes and keep up morale. We knew that if society broke down we would all be doomed. Each day a different person took a bad turn. Every time that happened, we worked as a team to try to keep the morale up».
Mario Sepúlveda also said that some of the older miners helped to support the younger men but all have taken an oath of silence not to reveal certain details of what happened, particularly during the early weeks of desperation..

giorgio - 2013/6/13 - 09:47




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