The Big Hewer (Ewan MacColl)

British coalminers have many stories of a legendary hero known by various names, including Temple, Tempest, Jackie Torr, Bob Towers, and, in Wales, Isaac Lewis. He is also known as "The Great Miner" or "The Big Hewer". He is to the British coalfields what Paul Bunyan was to the US logging camps and John Henry to the African American railway builders.

This song was specially written for the documentary Radio Ballad, The Big Hewer, first broadcast by the BBC in 1961.

Here is my rendition of the song.

Come All You Coal Miners (Sarah Ogan Gunning)

Sarah Garland Gunning (later Sarah Ogan Gunning) was the tenth of 11 children in a Kentucky mining family, at a time when miners were paid less than a dollar and a half for a ten-hour day and worked in appalling conditions. Her father, Jim Garland, was blacklisted as he represented the miners in their fight for better wages, forcing him to use aliases in order go work in the mines. In 1931, a group of Northerners called the Dreiser Committee came to Kentucky to investigate atrocities committed against the miners, and brought their plight to national attention.

Sarah Garland and her sister, Molly (later known as Aunt Molly Jackson) wrote and sang songs in support of the struggle at labor rallies. They were taken to New York by members of the Dreiser Committee to help raise money for the miners' cause. Sarah, who was suffering from brown lung disease met folk singers like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Lee Hays, who went on to record her songs. After successful treatment for tuberculosis treatment she retired from performing, but returned in the '60s to perform at several major folk festivals. Her half brother, Jim Garland, wrote I Don't Want Your Millions, Mister, which I have already uploaded to YouTube.

This song, written in 1937, is typical of her work. It has been recorded by Uncle Tupelo, who sings it from the perspective of a coal miner, rather than a coal miner's wife as in the original version, and also by Mike Seeger.

Here is my performance, and here are the lyrics.

Dark as a Dungeon (Merle Travis)

This song about the deadly lure of the coal mines was written by Merle Travis, whose father and brothers were all coal miners in Kentucky where he grew up.

Merle Travis himself remembers his oldest brother, Taylor washing up in a galvanized tub in the middle of the floor after coming home from the mines: "When I'd watch him wash the black coal dust from a little rose tattoo on his arm I longed for the day when I could work in the mine and have a tattoo... He practically broke every rib in his body in a mine accident and it changed his whole life..."

Travis first recorded the song in 1946.It was later popularised by Johnny Cash when he first sang it in his Folsom Prison concert. It has been covered by many other singers, including Dolly Parton, Harry Belafonte, Bob DeCormier, Pete Seeger, John Greenway, Cisco Houston, Jim Kweskin (1971), Rose Maddox (1976), The Weavers, The Wolfe Tones (1965), Glenn Yarbrough, Joan Baez (in 1964 and with Bob Dylan in their 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue concerts) and Patrick Sky (1985). The band, Wall of Voodoo, did a punk version in 1985.

Here's a performance by Ryan's Fancy and a nice one from a YouTuber who calls himself Fret Killer.

Here is my performance of this song and the lyrics are here.

Dream of a Miner's Child (Robert Donnely, Will Geddes)

This song was originally called Don't Go Down in the Mine, Dad. It was published in London in 1910. It was rewritten by Vernon Dahlhart in 1925 and popularised by Doc Watson. It has also been recorded by Ralph Stanley and Marty Robbins.

Here is my rendition and here are the lyrics.

The Dying Doctor (Woody Guthrie)

Woody Guthrie wrote several songs in support of the miners who were often in conflict with the companies which exploited them. These lyrics were written in September, 1945, but were never recorded. It is not known whether he ever wrote a tune to this or just intended it as a poem. As far as I know, nobody has performed this song before. Also known as The Company Town Doctor, it was published in the 1965 book Born To Win, which he co-wrote with Robert Shelton. I have put a tune to it, which I hope is close enough to Woody's style.

Thanks to Tony Oppegard, for providing me with the lyrics. Here is my rendition.

The Dying Miner (Woody Guthrie)

This song was written as a tribute to the 111 miners who were killed in Centralia Coal Mine No 5 Disaster which occurred on March 25, 1947 at 3:26 PM

This video about the disaster uses Woody Guthrie's song as the soundtrack. And here is my rendition of the song.

The Gallant Colliers (Ewan MacColl)

This song, to the tune of Morissey and the Russian Sailor, was written, in January, 1960, for a Tyne-Tees Television Co. documentary film about Coal, Burning Light.

Here is my rendition.

The High Sheriff of Hazard (Tom Paxton)

Tom Paxton wrote the following about this song (from Sing Out!, Vol. 14, No. 5, Nov 1964, p. 30):

Over the Easter weekend, my wife Midge and I, along with Phil Ochs, Carolyn Hester, Alix Dobkin, Eric Anderson [sic], Danny Kalb, and some others, got down to Hazard, Kentucky, to meet some of the miners who have been on strike and starving for over a year. If a man wants to scab, he can put in a twelve-hour-day in an unsafe mine ("dog holes," they call them) for anywhere from three to eight dollars a day. Things are rigged so if he won't scab, it's seen that he's unable to get food stamps for the government rations. This "high sheriff" runs the county the way he likes. As the song says, he's part-owner of a mine himself, so the miners have learned not to expect too much from him -- except trouble.

For the melody he used the traditional tune of The Limerick Rake. Here is my rendition of the song and here are the lyrics.

Lawrence Jones (Si Kahn)

Si Kahn, a North Carolina-based union organizer, writes hard-hitting political songs. This one, about the hazards of coal mining, is set to the tune of Pretty Polly, which was also used by Woody Guthrie for Pastures of Plenty and by Dylan for The Ballad of Hollis Brown.

Here is my rendition.

Ludlow Massacre (Woody Guthrie)

In September 1913, mine workers in southern Colorado went on strike against the coal mine owners, in particular John D. Rockefeller's Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation. They were fighting for an eight-hour day, a fairer method of weighing the coal and the right to shop in stores not owned by the company, as well as recognition of the union according to already existing labor laws.

Miners' housing and everything else in the towns where they lived, and pretty much the state government itself, were in Rockefeller's control.

When the striking workers were forced out of their homes they set up tent camps in the hills, the largest being at Ludlow.

Although there was no violence from the strikers, Martial Law was declared and, throughout the winter, regular raids were carried out by "detective agencies" working for Rockefeller, resulting in several deaths. Some of the strikers managed to obtain guns to defend themselves.

When the strike was still not over by spring the mine owners organised an armored car, with a mounted machine-gun, to drive around and spray bullets into the camps, forcing the miners to dig trenches and holes beneath the tent floors to protect their families.

The armed thugs were reinforced by the National Guard, which was under the command of the governor, Their wages were paid by the Rockefellers.

On the morning of April 20th, the Ludlow camp was attacked with machine-gun fire and the strike leader was enticed into the hills to discuss a truce, and shot to death by members of the National Guardsmen. Then at night the tents were set on fire by the soldiers, killing twenty people, eleven of them children. It is estimated that altogether 66 people were killed over the duration of the strike.

The outcome of the massacre was that thousands of people marched to the state capital and demanded that the Guardsmen be tried for murder. Miners armed themselves and attack the mine guards and blew up mine shafts in the town of Trinidad. A company of state soldiers sent there refused to mobilize, saying they would not shoot women and children.

After twelve more deaths, order was restored by the combined forces of the corporations and the federal government and the strike ended. None of the hired gunmen were charged with a crime.

This song is Woody Guthrie's account of the massacre at the Ludlow camp.

Here is my rendition. You can read the lyrics here.

Miner's Lifeguard

This coal-mining song is sung to the tune of the 19th century sacred song Life's Railway to Heaven, which was adapted from the Welsh hymn, Calon Lan.

These lyrics were collected and recorded by George Korson from Mrs. Luigi Gugliotta, West Virginia in 1940.

The line "keep your eyes upon the scale (or sometimes "scales") refers to the coal owners' practice of underweighing the miners' coal cars which was common until the unions succeeded in appointing a union man to doublecheck the weight.

It was recorded by The Almanac Singers, Pete Seeger's group that preceded The Weavers.

Here it is sung by Kwan at a session of the Hong Kong Folk Society at The Canny Man in The Wharney Hotel, Wanchai.

Lyrics:

Miner's life is like a sailor's
Aboard a ship to cross the wave;
Every day his life's in danger,
Still he ventures being brave.
Watch the rocks, they're falling daily;
Careless miners always fail;
Keep your hand upon the dollar
And your eye upon the scale.

Union miners, stand together,
Heed no operator's tale;
Keep your hand upon the dollar
And your eye upon the scale.

Soon this trouble will be ended,
Union men will have their rights,
After many years of bondage,
Digging days and digging nights.
Then by honest weight we labor,
Union miners never fail;
Keep your hand upon the dollar
And your eye upon the scale.

Let no union men be weakened
By newspapers' false reports;
Be like sailors on the ocean,
Trusting in their safe lifeboats.
Let your lifeboat be Jehovah
Those who trust Him never fail.
Keep your hand upon the dollar
And your eye upon the scale.

You've been docked and docked again boys,
You've been loading two for one;
What have you to show for working
Since this mining has begun?
Just worn-out boots and worn-out miners,
And your children growing pale.
Keep your hand upon the dollar
And your eye upon the scale.

In conclusion, bear in memory,
Keep the password in your mind.;
God provides for every worker,
When in union they combine.
Stand like men and linked together,
Union miners will prevail,
Keep your hand upon the dollar
And your eye upon the scale.

Miner's Lullaby (James Low)

This lovely song, by Portland singer, James Low, was recorded on his album, "Live at Mississippi Studios." It was requested by Tony Oppegard, who called it "a little-known coal mining song, but one of my all-time favorites". He said he has never heard a cover of the song, so this may be a first!

Here is my rendition.

Miner's Wife (Ewan MacColl)

This short song was written for the documentary Radio Ballad, The Big Hewer, first broadcast by the BBC in 1961. A number of interviews were conducted with miners' wives and the greatest concern seemed to be the dangers in the pit, a subject which worried the women as much as the miners themselves. One woman described it as as "a constant war of nerves".

Here is my rendition.

The Mountain (Steve Earle)

This great coal mining ballad is the title track from the album that Steve Earle made with the Del McCoury Bluegrass band in 1999. He wrote all 14 songs, and said in his liner notes that his motive was an attempt at immortality. He hoped at least one of the songs would be performed at every bluegrass festival in the world after he was gone.

Here is my rendition.

One Miner's Life (Ed Pickford)

Schoolday's End (Ewan MacColl)

This nostalgic song was specially written for the documentary Radio Ballad, The Big Hewer, first broadcast by the BBC in 1961. The three verses tell the same story of a young man leaving school to work in the mines, but the setting changes from England to Scotland and then to Wales.

One of the best recordings is by Luke Kelly, using the title School Days Over. Most recordings since then have been basically covers of his version. Here is one by Damien Dempsey and another by Gavin Hayes.

Here is my rendition.

The Springhill Mine Disaster (Peggy Seeger)

The Springhill mining disaster of this song occurred in 1958. A number of miners trapped underground were miraculously rescued after eight days.

Peggy Seeger, who was living in Paris at the time, saw the reports of the disaster on television and was moved to write about it. Because she had never been down a mine, she later asked Ewan MacColl to help her with it. He added at least one verse, probably the third.

The kind of situation described in this song is still a frequent occurence in China, where I live. So many people have given their lives in this way throughout history.

The song has been recorded by many artists, including Ewan MacColl (of course), Peter, Paul and Mary, Theodore Bikel, Martin Carthy, Bob Gibson, Luke Kelly and U2.

Here is my rendition of the song. And here are the lyrics.

The Testimony of Patience Kershaw (Frank Higgins)

In 1842, a commission of the British government examined the working conditions of women and children who worked in the coal mines. An illiterate girl of 17, Patience Kershaw, gave this testimony. Frank Higgins wrote her account into this powerful ballad.

It has been covered by various artists, including Enoch Kent, Sally Rogers, Elle Osborne and The Ian Campbell Folk Group.

Here is my rendition.