Springhill Mine Disaster

In the town of Springhill, Nova Scotia,

Down in the dark of the Cumberland Mine

There's blood on the coal and the miners lie

In the roads that never saw sun nor sky

Roads that never saw sun nor sky

In the town of Springhill you don't sleep easy

Often the earth will tremble and roll

When the earth is restless miners die

Bone and blood is the price of coal

Bone and blood is the price of coal

In the town of Springhill, Nova Scotia

Late in the year of fifty-eight

The day still comes and the sun still shines

But it's dark as the grave in the Cumberland mine

Dark as the grave in the Cumberland mine

Down at the coal face miners working

Rattle of the belts and the cutter's blade

Then a rumble of rock and the walls close round

Living and the dead men two miles down

Living and the dead men two miles down

Twelve men lay two miles from the pitshaft

Twelve men lay in the dark and sang

Long hot days in the miners' tomb

It was three foot high and a hundred long

Three foot high a hundred long

Three days passed and the lamps gave out

And Caleb Rushton got up and said

There's no more water light or bread

So we'll live on songs and hope instead

Live on songs and hope instead

Listen for the shouts of the bare-face miners,

Listen through the rubble for the rescue team

Six hundred feet of coal and slag

Hope imprisoned in a three-foot seam

Hope imprisoned in a three-foot seam

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