The Ballad of the Springhill Mine Disaster
Peggy SeegerOriginal | The missing verse: |
THE BALLAD OF THE SPRINGHILL MINE DISASTER 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.. Down at the coal face, miners working Rattle of the belt and the cutter's blade.. Rumble of the rock and the walls closed 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 miners 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 Our foreman rose on his elbow and said We're out of light and water and bread So we'll live on song and hope instead, So we'll live on song and hope instead. Listen for the shouts of the barefaced miners Listen thru 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 passes and some were rescued Leaving the dead to lie alone Thru all their lives they dug their 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, Bone and blood is the price of coal.. Listen for the shouts of the barefaced miners Listen thru 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.. | THE BALLAD OF THE SPRINGHILL MINE DISASTER In the town of Springhill, Nova Scotia Late in the year of '58 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.. |