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The Ballad Of Springhill

from Freeborn Man by Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger

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Written by Peggy Seeger

lyrics

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
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.

In the town of Springhill, Nova Scotia,
Late in the year of fifty-eight,
Day still comes and the sun still shines,
But it’s dark as the grave in the Cumberland Mine.

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.

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.

Three days passed and the lamps gave out
And Caleb Rushton he up and said,
“There’s no more water nor light nor bread
So we’ll live on songs 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.

Eight days passed 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.

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.

credits

from Freeborn Man, released September 20, 1983
Ewan MacColl - vocals
Peggy Seeger - vocals, guitar

Produced by Neill MacColl
Engineered by Nick Godwin
Recorded at Pathway Studios, London

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Ewan MacColl London, UK

This site is maintained by the MacColl family, aiming to make Ewan's catalogue available to download.
Ewan MacColl is known to most as a songwriter and singer, but he was also of significant influence in the worlds of theatre and radio broadcasting. His art reached huge numbers through the folk clubs, greater numbers through his recordings and untold millions through the radio. ... more

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