I'm spending a weekend with my brother soon, and we are both music fans, but our tastes are different.
Last time I visited, we talked about when he used to live in Appalachia, where he developed a taste for country and folk music but also a deep antipathy to the coal industry.
Anyway, he likes "roots music", which is not my strong suit, but any style is fine unless it's thrash metal or something. I think he'd like to hear some real British folk music too.
I want to make a playlist he can listen to in his car - stuff like "Working in a Coal Mine", "Coal Miner's Daughter", but I am stumped.
Thanks!
― Night of Olay: The Resurrection (I M Losted), Thursday, 16 September 2021 10:39 (three years ago)
...and how can I forget "Dark as a Dungeon"??
― Night of Olay: The Resurrection (I M Losted), Thursday, 16 September 2021 10:41 (three years ago)
hmm. must be a bunch of old union/protest songs that would fit in here.
― I Am Fribbulus (Xax) (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 16 September 2021 11:01 (three years ago)
her recordings might be a bit more stark than what you're looking for, but: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aunt_Molly_Jackson
― no lime tangier, Thursday, 16 September 2021 11:11 (three years ago)
The Dubliners: 'Springhill Mining Disaster' (1973).
Sting: 'We Work The Black Seam' (1985).
U2: 'Red Hill Mining Town' (1987).
― the pinefox, Thursday, 16 September 2021 11:13 (three years ago)
This is brilliant and heartbreaking IMO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EghBJOb-UZ4
― Tim, Thursday, 16 September 2021 11:13 (three years ago)
And gold not coal:
Cowboy Junkies, 'Mining for Gold' (1988).
― the pinefox, Thursday, 16 September 2021 11:14 (three years ago)
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Come-All-You-Coal-Miners/release/4148892
&
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Theyll-Never-Keep-Us-Down-Womens-Coal-Mining-Songs/release/7180881
― no lime tangier, Thursday, 16 September 2021 11:16 (three years ago)
Not sure this one is about mining precisely: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0IHk7vYPX4
... and nor's this one but it's a proper classic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAY7JmBpTa0
― Tim, Thursday, 16 September 2021 11:20 (three years ago)
There are a lot of folk songs about mining disasters!
― How does Spock's brain come into this? (Tom D.), Thursday, 16 September 2021 11:22 (three years ago)
Falco Mutter, Der Mann Mit Dem Koks Ist Da
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m7bHdcq87o
Defintely about coal, but "roots music" this is not.
― Siegbran, Thursday, 16 September 2021 11:23 (three years ago)
The Albion Band, "The Gresford Disaster"
Down there in the dark they are lyingThey died for nine shillings a day;They have worked out their shift and now they must lieIn the darkness until Judgement Day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zBpks3YeuQ
― How does Spock's brain come into this? (Tom D.), Thursday, 16 September 2021 11:26 (three years ago)
.. welling up just thinking about that song.
Kevin Coyne, "The Miner's Song"
Oh I'm gonna do some fightingOh I'll fight the lot of yer!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUxt1-T4LzM
― How does Spock's brain come into this? (Tom D.), Thursday, 16 September 2021 11:32 (three years ago)
Dwight Yoakam & Ralph Stanley Miner's Prayer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIZAnEJRV3M
― Siegbran, Thursday, 16 September 2021 11:39 (three years ago)
Leon Rosselson, "Palaces of Gold". A song about Aberfan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpWluQXKTZk
― How does Spock's brain come into this? (Tom D.), Thursday, 16 September 2021 11:42 (three years ago)
Dick Gaughan, "Auchengeich Disaster"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehhtsv7_Hog
― How does Spock's brain come into this? (Tom D.), Thursday, 16 September 2021 11:47 (three years ago)
John Prine - Paradisehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-SKCWXoryU
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 16 September 2021 11:57 (three years ago)
Wikipedia Prog dept.
Big Big Train - A Boy In Darkness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xQmshE99Ic
― Maresn3st, Thursday, 16 September 2021 11:58 (three years ago)
Johnny Cash - The L&N Don’t Stop Here Anymorehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jF8QgyW3VAMany people have done this song. In fact I performed at above a pub one day at an ILX talent show!
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 16 September 2021 11:59 (three years ago)
Cumberland Blues - Grateful Dead
― BrianB, Thursday, 16 September 2021 12:00 (three years ago)
This is going to be a pretty depressing playlist tbh.Something that “L&N” captures really well is this unresolvable tension between coalmining being a terrible job and destructive of everything we hold dear, and also being a vital paycheck and the anchor to a way of life.
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 16 September 2021 12:07 (three years ago)
“I never thought I’d learn to love the coal dust / Never thought I’d pray to hear the tipples roar”
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 16 September 2021 12:09 (three years ago)
The Bee Gees, "New York Mining Disaster 1941"
― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Thursday, 16 September 2021 12:16 (three years ago)
Max Boyce, "Duw It's Hard". My Welsh dad was heavily into this guy but I never really got him, except for this.
But I can't forget the times we hadThe laughing midst the fear'Cause everytime I cough I getA mining souvenir
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7itxshX1i4o
― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Thursday, 16 September 2021 12:20 (three years ago)
lol
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 16 September 2021 12:21 (three years ago)
Florence Reece - Which Side Are You Onhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uPVMOP1ogcFlorence lived in Knoxville with her husband Sam (whose attempted murder was the inspiration for her writing the song). My mom idolized her and I got to meet her several times, and I even met Sam a couple of times when I was very little.
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 16 September 2021 12:23 (three years ago)
Nancy & Lee - "Arkansas Coal (Suite)"
― Kim Kimberly, Thursday, 16 September 2021 12:26 (three years ago)
Can’t find a good YouTube for it, but here’s Pete Seeger and The Weavers doing a few minutes of “Miner’s Life”. This has the immortal line: “Keep your hand upon the dollar / and your eye upon the scale” i.e. don’t let the foreman cheat you when it comes time to weigh your load.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxQuytT2tMQ
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 16 September 2021 12:27 (three years ago)
My favorite bit of trivia regarding Cumberland Blues: Robert Hunter, friend of the band and writer of the song's lyrics, was in the audience at a show shortly after the song's release and was tickled to hear someone behind him loudly complaining about how unfair it was that a contemporary rock band had dug up and recorded this obscure old Appalachian tune to exploit commercially on Workingman's Dead with no compensation for the poor coal miner who wrote it. He knew he'd nailed the lyrics when he heard that.
― BrianB, Thursday, 16 September 2021 12:29 (three years ago)
The Police - Canary in a Coal Mine
― henry s, Thursday, 16 September 2021 12:31 (three years ago)
hmmm
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 16 September 2021 12:55 (three years ago)
'Timothy' by the Buoys!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXn0uIF60iU
― Marty J. Bilge (Old Lunch), Thursday, 16 September 2021 13:02 (three years ago)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixteen_Tons
― koogs, Thursday, 16 September 2021 13:18 (three years ago)
Tracer Hand going back to his Southern roots here.
Tracer, what does L&N stand for?
― the pinefox, Thursday, 16 September 2021 14:28 (three years ago)
Louisville & Nashville!
There's a beautiful L&N station in downtown Knoxville that's been restored a few times over the years. It's had a succession of restaurants as tenants but nothing has ever worked out permanently as far as I know.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%26N_Station_(Knoxville)
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 16 September 2021 14:39 (three years ago)
Ah, of course that link does't work because of the closing parenthesis. You'll need to copy and paste.
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 16 September 2021 14:40 (three years ago)
Huh I can see from that Wikipedia article that it's now a high school! I had no idea. In any case... the L&N don't stop there anymore.
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 16 September 2021 14:42 (three years ago)
Steeleye Span, "The Blackleg Miner"
So join the union while you mayDon't wait till your dying dayOr that may not be far awayYou dirty blackleg miner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3f9YpKH1AM
― How does Spock's brain come into this? (Tom D.), Thursday, 16 September 2021 14:50 (three years ago)
have always loved this one: jimmy dean, "big bad john"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnnHprUGKF0
― andrew m., Thursday, 16 September 2021 16:02 (three years ago)
ok, here's the og version with the better ending. "at the bottom of this mine lies one helluva man"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN3exiuyQJc
― andrew m., Thursday, 16 September 2021 16:07 (three years ago)
Can't find the original recording of this, but Peggy Seeger's "Springhill Mining Disaster":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp6a-r0keWE
U2 used to cover this in the mid-'80s. I saw them play it in Chicago, the week (possibly the day) they appeared on the cover of Time magazine. The crowd went nuts for everything during the show, and kept shouting over Bono's introduction of this song, which he said he wished he'd heard on the radio during the UK miners strike. After Bono sang the first verse of this, he said, "Shut up for a second, willya? It's not the Beatles up here, it's just U2."
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 16 September 2021 16:16 (three years ago)
Pulp: "The Last Day of The Miner's Strike"
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 16 September 2021 16:40 (three years ago)
Uncle Tupelo - Coalminers
― that's not my post, Thursday, 16 September 2021 16:45 (three years ago)
Dylan - North Country Blues (though it's about iron mining)
― that's not my post, Thursday, 16 September 2021 16:56 (three years ago)
Wow! These are great! He will love this playlist.
I especially like Dick Gaughan, it will be nice to play him some English / Irish / Scottish stuff, I think he'd like it, but he'd like more modern stuff like "Pulp", too!
Forgot about the Nancy & Lee, he would like that.
He already knows about John Prine.
― Night of Olay: The Resurrection (I M Losted), Thursday, 16 September 2021 17:15 (three years ago)
Oh... "Timothy" is that novelty song by Rupert Holmes that alludes to cannibalism in the coal mine!
― Night of Olay: The Resurrection (I M Losted), Thursday, 16 September 2021 17:30 (three years ago)
I especially like Dick Gaughan, it will be nice to play him some English / Irish / Scottish stuff,
I don't there's ever been any coal mining in Ireland?
― How does Spock's brain come into this? (Tom D.), Thursday, 16 September 2021 17:48 (three years ago)
Technically not coal, but you definitely need this miners anthem on the playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI0x0KYChq4
― Siegbran, Thursday, 16 September 2021 17:53 (three years ago)
Tennessee ernie ford - 16 tons
― The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse), Thursday, 16 September 2021 18:06 (three years ago)
Uncle Bill's 'Between the Wars'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjUA3RU4B8E
― Grantman, Thursday, 16 September 2021 18:31 (three years ago)
So many good things on here. I came to post the Gresford Mining Disaster which is an extraordinary track.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Thursday, 16 September 2021 19:29 (three years ago)
The Mekons, "Trimdon Grange Explosion"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT1xnBeG4XQ
― How does Spock's brain come into this? (Tom D.), Thursday, 16 September 2021 19:37 (three years ago)
― Marty J. Bilge (Old Lunch), Thursday, 16 September 2021 19:41 (three years ago)