Henry's Songbook

Chorus:
No you won't get me down underground in your mines
Away from the trees and the flowers so fine
Down in the dark where the sun never shines
No you won't get me down in your mines

They work in the dark for the most of their lives
Away from the children, away from their wives
To make others rich, in the heat and the dark
But who's going to care when you're too old to work

There's many a miner has died underground
Died all alone when the roof tumbled down
Or choked out his life underneath the great beams
Or buried and gassed in that lousy coal-seam

I've worked in your factories, I've worked on your farms
Until all the muscles stood out on my arms
I've been in your armies and I've been out to sea
But by Christ you won't make a coal-miner of me

(as sung by The McCalmans)

Tune: by Colin Wilkie

[1989:] Colin [Wilkie] wrote this song following a mining accident in Kent, England, in 1963. This is the only song I know about mining that doesn't praise or lament the heroic danger of the job, but simply says no to that kind of work in the first place. (Notes Tony Ireland, 'Lest We Forget')

 Oct. 24 Broistedt, West Germany. A burst dam flooded the nearby Mathilde iron mine and trapped 129 miners; 29 men died, 86 men escaped within a short time, 3 men were rescued from an air pocket after eight days of drilling, and 11 others were dramatically rescued after two weeks of entombment. ( von HEALTHY AND UNHEALTHY ORGANISATIONS) , server is sometimes slow

[2002,Oct,02] Colin Wilkie wrote to Susanne:
(C) The title, as published by the English Music Publishers: B:Feldman & Co. Ltd was "Down In Your Mine " [mine - singular - not mine(s)] although it is of course an expression of my feelings towards ALL mines. I did originally call it " You Won't Get Me Down In Your Mine " and it was recorded by Nic Jones, sometime in the 70s, and has been printed a couple of times in various magazines with that title, but I found it unwieldy ( takes up a lot of room/ time when filling in Gema/PRS sheets etc ) so shortened it to the above.

(S) I only have the McCalmans recording on 'Peace and Plenty', and their title is "No You Won't Get Me Down In Your Mines".

(C) The " No " at the start of the line was added by Tony ( or maybe the Macs, I forget ) and isn't sung by me. But that's the " folk process " isn't it ? and I'd be the last to criticise anyone for adding to or subtracting from lyrics if it helps to personalise the song for the interpreter. Anyway the " No " is now apparently permanently in the song as can be heard on the CD made by Canadian singer/songwriter Dave Anthony last year - I suppose he got it from Tony or the Macs - it doesn't matter. Like I said it's "the folk process " and is actually rather flattering in its way, to think something you wrote has been respected enough to have been absorbed into the repertory of, and altered by, other performers ...

... I don't know where Tony [see 1989 note] got his information from, but it has nothing to do with a Kentish coal mine. It was in fact written after I read about the dreadful disaster in Lengede. I said to Shirley " You wouldn't get me down in a mine " and the idea for a song was born.

(S) Nor do I. I just copied Tony's info from the record sleeve when I came across it one day. When someone on the Mudcat said it had been written about a German mining disaster in 1963 I immediately assumed it must be Lengede. I'm just old enough to remember watching the rescue operation on TV. It left a deep impression, as you can see.
Thank you, for taking the time to write at such length.

http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=14676

 add. Das Wunder von Lengede Mining desaster 1963 in Lengede / Germany