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about

Miners - especially coalminers - have always been reckoned a breed apart, and so have their songs. Tough, resilient in the face of frequent dangers and not infrequent disasters, and intensely proud of their work, mining communities everywhere have made rich contributions to folksong tradition. Grit's song was collected by A.L. Lloyd during the trip that resulted in Lloyd's classic collection, Come All Ye Bold Miners. The song was written during the 1870's by a Durham miner named J.B. Geoghehen.

lyrics

I am a jovial collier lad, as blithe as blithe can be,
And let the times be good or bad, it's all the same to me.
It's little of the world I know and care less for its ways,
For where the dog star never glows I wear away me days.

Chorus:
Down in the coalmine, underneath the ground,
Where a gleam of sunshine never can be found.
It's digging up the dusky diamonds all the seasons round,
Deep down in the coalmine, underneath the ground.

Me hands are hoary, hard and black through working in the vein,
And like the clothes upon me back, me speech is rough and plain,
But if I stumble with me tonque, I've got one excuse to say,
It's not the collier's heart that's wrong, It's the head that's gone astray.

How little do the great ones care, who sit at home secure,
What hidden dangers colliers dare, what hardships they endure.
The very fire they sit beside, to warm themselves and wives,
Mayhap was kindled at the cost of jovial miners' lives.

So cheer up lads and make the most of every joy you can,
And always let your mirth be such as best befits a man,
For whether times be good or bad we'll still be jovial souls;
Where would we all be without the lads who look for coal?

credits

from This Side Of The Ocean, released December 28, 2021
Grit - Lead vocals, long-necked mandolin • lan - Concertina, chorus • Laurence - Fiddle, chorus • Tam - Guitar, chorus • Alistair, David, Jim - Chorus • Ken - electric bass

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Laurence Stevenson image

Laurence Stevenson Brighton, Ontario

Having been born in Scotland and moved to Canada in my high school years, my life has followed parallel (but musically related) paths.
A career in radio, firstly as a radio news tech then a sound effects guy to creator of the CBC Radio Experimental Audio Room and finally as an international award winning radio producer for the popular show, Outfront, has been tracked alongside a life as a fiddler. ... more

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