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British coalminers have many stories of a superhuman worker who is known by a variety of names: Temple, Tempest, Torr, Towers and (in Wales) Isaac Lewis. He is also known as The Big Hewer and The Big Miner. The British colliers created this man, even as, in North America, the black railway workers sang about John Henry and the northern loggers sang, joked and told stories about Paul Bunyan. So persistent was the legend throughout the coalfields that we named the whole Radio-Ballad after the big man.

words and music: Ewan MacColl

lyrics

Out of the dirt and darkness I was born, go down!
Out of the hard, black coal-face I was torn, go down!
Kicked on the world and the earth split open,
Crawled through a crack where the rock was broken,
Burrowed a hole away in the coal, go down!

In a cradle of coal in the darkness I was laid, go down!
Down in the dirt and -arkness I was raised, go down!
Cut my teeth on a five foot timber,
Held up the roof with me little finger,
Started me time away in the mine, go down!

On the day that I was born, I was six foot tall, go down!
And the very next day I learned the way to haul, go down!
On the third day worked at board-and-pillar,
Worked on the fourth as a long-wall filler,
Getting me steam up, hewing the seam, go down!

I’m the son of the son of the son of a collier’s son, go down!
Coal dust flows in the veins where the blood should run, go down!
Five steel ribs and an iron backbone,
Teeth that can bite through rock and blackstone,
Working me time away in the mine, go down!

Three-hundred years I hewed at the coal by hand, go down!
In the pits of Durham and east Northumberland, go down!
Been gassed and burned and blown asunder,
Buried more times than I can number,
Getting the coal away in the hole, go down!

I’ve scrabbled and picked at the face where the roof was low, go down!
Crawled in the seams where only a mole could go, go down!
In the thin-cut seams I’ve ripped and redded
Where even the rats are born bowlegged,
Winning the coal, away in the hole, go down!

I’ve worked in the Hutton, the Plessy, the Brockwell Seam, go down!
The Bensham, the Busty, the Beaumont, the Marshall Green, go down!
Lain on me back in the old Three-Quarter
Up to the chin in stinking water,
Hewing the coal, away in the hole, go down!

Out of the dirt and darkness I was born, go down!
Out of the hard, black coal face I was torn, go down!
Lived in the shade of the high pit heap,
I’m still down there where the seams are deep
A-digging a hole away in the coal, go down!

credits

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

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

license

all rights reserved

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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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