Coaldust Ballads Ian Campbell Folk Group - Sleeve Notes.
"The title of this LP is also the title of a collection of mining songs by A.L.Lloyd and we are indebted to him for permission to use this title. We are also indebted to him both for his considerable research into mining songs and for his constant help, encouragement and constructive criticism in the past. Much of the material for this LP was drawn from his collection "Come All Ye Bold Miners".
Side One.
Come All You Gallant Colliers. Tune traditional Irish. Words written by Ewan MacColl in 1960 for a television programme dealing with problems facing the modern coal-mining industry.
Down in the Coalmine. We have used this song on an earlier record, (TRA 110), but this is a different recording and we are quite happy to use the song again as it is one of our favourites. It is also popular with the Birmingham School-children to whom we have performed it. The words were written in 1872 by stage comedian J.B.Geoghehan and have dated somewhat, but the tune is traditional Irish and timeless.
The Canny Miner Lad. I wrote this song early in 1964 for a television programme on mining life, and in its original form it was rather longer than it is here, as it was intended to be interpolated into the programme in sections as a sort of commentary. A certain amount of editing was necessary to transform it into a straight-forward song. I normally prefer to compose an original tune, but here I have followed a well established practice in borrowing from a traditional tune, The Balquidder Lasses.
Sandgate Girl's Lament. First printed in J. Peacock's Favourite Collection of Tunes with Tunes with Variations Adapted for the Northumberland Smallpipes. (c. 1800). I cannot say how close our version is to Peacock's as we learned it orally from Bob Davenport.
Rap Her te Bank. I was taught this song by Bob Davenport, one of the finest young singers in the country today. He learned it where he collected it, in Birtley, County Durham. " Rapping to bank" means giving the signal to draw the cage up the shaft to the surface when the last man has been counted in, when you have "caaled the torn" at the end of the shift.
The Blantyre Explosion. The disaster occurred at Dixon's Pit, High Blantyre, near Glasgow in 1877. Melody and fragmentary text were collected from R. Greening, Glasgow in 1951.
Instrumental Medley. The Banks and the High Level. About four years ago Dave Swarbrick spent a summer holiday at a festival in Northumberland. There he learnt these two tunes from the playing of Billy Pigge, a wonderful old man, and the finest small-pipes player this country has produced in living memory. The High Level is said to have been written by an Irishman who was working on the construction of the High Level bridge in Newcastle. Both tunes are very popular among traditional players and dancers in the mining communities of the north country.
Pay Friday. This was written in 1870 by an Elswick miner named Anderson to a traditional tune. From Allan's Tyneside Songs.
Side Two.
The Colliers' Rant. First printed in J.Ritson's Northumberland Garland (1793) and subsequently reprinted by various editors of North-country song collections.
Geordie Black. Words by the Gateshead comedian, Rowland Harrison, in 1872 from Allan's Tyneside Songs. Like many of the songs in Come All Ye Bold Miners, this had no tune supplied. However, in this case we were unable to find the associated tune from any other source, and found it necessary to supply our own. Dave Swarbrick came tour aid with a fragment of a half-remembered strathspey, of which he was unable to recall the name, and I played around with it until it fitted the words. On this track Dave is playing the twelve stringed guitar. He is a useful lad to have around.
The Sandgate Dandle. Words by the blind fiddler, Robert Nunn, who died in 1853. The tune is a traditional Tyneside Melody, often called "Dollia".
Drunken Bella Roy. Words by the blind fiddler Robert Nunn (1808-1853). Tune by Ian Campbell.
Blackleg Miners. As sung by W.Sampey, of Bishops Auckland, Co Durham (1949). No Collection of miners' songs would be complete without this song, which was so typical of the militant miners' attitude to the non-union man.
My Miner Lad. From The Singing Englishman, a collection of traditional songs compiled for Festival of Britain year by A.L.Lloyd.
Cushy Butterfield. A very popular song in the mining communities of the North East. Words by the Collier comedian George Ridley (1834 - 1864) sung to the tune of the music hall song Pretty Polly Perkins.
The Plodder Seam. The words and music of this song were written by Ewan MacColl just before the Second World War for a group of young Lancashire miners. It has now passed into the oral tradition, and has been collected in several versions.
Collier Laddie. This is a much shortened version of the words given by Lloyd but I think it still makes a logical song. There are also some minor alterations in the text, some of them from the singing of Ewan MacColl. The original came from Hamish Henderson of the School of Scottish Studies, Edinburgh. Ian Campbell.
Notes: The Transatlantic record label now owned by Castle Music which, in turn, is part of the Sanctuary Record Group.Castlemusic.com. Although they have listed CD's by The Ian Campbell Folk Group "Coaldust Ballads" was not included. Perhaps contacting them may bear fruit!
Other Items of Possible Interest.
I have a copy of the "Ewan MacColl Peggy Seeger Songbook". A section is allocated to "Coalminers". There are five songs including The Plodder Seam and The Gallant Colliers. Both are on "Coaldust Ballads" although the latter has a modified title. The remaining three songs are:-
The Big Hewer
Schoolday's End (Not "Over" as I wrote earlier!)
Miner's Wife
The Songbook was published by Oak Publications of New York in 1963. The songs are copyrighted by Stormking Music Inc Stormking Music Inc. Ewan MacColl died some years ago but his wife Peggy Seeger has a web site Peggy Seeger.com which contains a lot of information.
The title page of the "Coalminers" section contains the following transcript and notes on the songs:
"When the Big Hewer died, they didn't carry the coffin in the same way they do anybody else. His three marras, then the new marra, carried the coffin with two pickshafts for handles. And the last tokens he filled were on top of the coffin. And when they got to the grave-side, there was no preacher, just the checkweighman; he would get up and say a few words, how good a workman he was , always filled his tubs well up. And his new marra that took his place, he would get up and say 'well, I hope that I'll be as good as him. I'll try my best, but I know that I,ve got a job on.' This was the Big Hewer's funeral."
- Jack Elliott, coalminer of Birtley, Co. Durham, 1961.
The Plodder Seam - Written just before World War II for a group of young miners who worked in the Ashton pits in Lancashire. The song became something of a favourite with miners in the area and has been collected in several versions.
The Big Hewer - British coalminers have many stories of an almost superhuman figure 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", or "The Great Miner". This heroic figure is to the British coalfields what Paul Bunyan was to the logging camps of the United States, what John Henry was to the Negro railway builders. This song, written in 1961 for a documentary radio ballad, " The Big Hewer" incorporates a number of current mining legends told about the great miner.
Schooldays End - This nostalgic song of a youth's first day at work was written for "The Big Hewer" (see above).
Miner's Wife - While recording in 1961 among the British coalminers, we interviewed a number of miners' wives. The conversation inevitably worked around to the subject of danger in the pit, a topic which is as present in the minds of the women as of the miners themselves. One woman remarked, "We live in a constant war of nerves".
Song of the Colliers - Since the end of World War II, a number of pits have been closed down by the National Coal Board because they have become uneconomical to run. In spite of the propaganda made by interested parties, however, it will be some time before coal as the raw material for providing heat, is completely supplanted by oil, atomic energy or whatever. That it will ultimately be supplanted is inevitable. This song was written in 1960 for a Tyne-Tees Television program dealing with these issues.
The Big Hewer, as indicated above, was a part of a series called The Radio Ballads. It was written by Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger and Charles Parker and is available from Topic Records on CD TSCD804 Topicrecords.co.uk
"The Quest For Coal" Video is available from:-
Outwood Community Video,
21 Coach Road,
Outwood.
Wakefield. WF1 3EZ.
Price £10.00 plus £2.00 pp
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