Blood and bone

The Ballad of Springhill

Peggy Seeger/Ewan MacColl

In the town of Springhill, Nova Scotia
Down in the dark of the Cumberland Mine
When the earth gets restless, miners die
Blood and bone is the price of coal,
Blood and bone is the price of coal

Down at the coal face the miners working
Rattle of the belt and the cutters blade
Rumble of rock and the walls close round
The living and the dead men two miles down
The living and the dead men two miles down

Twelve men lie two miles from the pit shaft
Twelve men lie in the dark and sang
Long hot days in the miner's tomb
Three feet high and a hundred long,
three feet high and a hundred long

Eight days passed and the lamps gave out
One of the miners ups and says
"There's no more water or light or bread,
so we'll live on songs and hope instead,
we'll live on songs and hope instead".

Eight long days and some were rescued,
Leaving the dead to lie alone.
Through all their lives they dug their grave
Two miles of earth for a marking stone,
Two miles of earth for a marking stone.