Henry's Songbook

Ballad of Jimmy Steele

• (Davy Steele)
  

  When I was a young man and just seventeen
  I worked doon the pit as a belt-boy
  Tae keep the coal clean I shed sweat and some tears
  And I did everything I was tell't, boys

  Coal minin', coal minin', my life's been coal minin'

  Maist o' the miners I worked wi' were grand
  Some o' them treated me rough, boys
  Some were born wi' a pick in their hands
  And I learned the real meaning o' tough, boys

  Coal minin', coal minin', my life's been coal minin'

  Soon I was a collier, and proud o' my work
  I was one o' the Preston Links team, boys
  Cuttin' a road oot intae the forth
  Tae the heart o' the Dysart seam, boys

  Coal minin', coal minin', my life's been coal minin'

  A war was soon ragin', all Europe went mad
  Hitler had called all our bluff, boys
  I could have stayed doon the pit like some o' the lads
  But for me that was never enough, boys

  So I jined the Seaforths wi' some o' my freens
  At fightin' I wanted my chance, boys
  The Ladies frae Hell we always were called
  But we found oot that Hell was in France, boys

  And when it was over, and heroes returned
  I stayed in the army some time, boys
  But a wife and young family need a permanent hame
  So I ended up back doon the mine, boys

  Coal minin', coal minin', my life's been coal minin'

  I soon settled doon and though minin' had changed
  Picked it up, and then came the hitch, boys
  I lost an eye and a finger forbye
  And I ended up pushin' a switch, boys

  Coal minin', coal minin', my life's been coal minin'

  Maist o' my life I hae spent doon the black
  At pit jobs I've done quite a few, boys
  At the brushin' and packin' I never was slack
  And I aye gie'd a hand tae the new boys

  James Steele I was christened, auld Jimmy I'm cried
  I've worked as lang as I can, boys
  I never made money whatever I tried
  Just your everyday, hard-workin' man, boys

  Coal minin', coal minin', my life's been coal minin'
  Coal minin', coal minin', my life's been coal minin'

  (as sung by Iain MacKintosh)
  
  Tune: Blue Bleezin' Blind Drunk (Mickey's Warning)

Susannes Folksong-Notizen

• [1988:] [Coal-miners are] among the most class-conscious, and also patriotic, of all British workers. By mid-1915, perhaps one quarter of the workforce had enlisted. Later on miners had to be "combed out" of the army, so that coal production could be maintained. (Winter, The Experience of World War I, 119)

• [1996:] Aus persönlichen Motiven würde ich [für ein 'ewiges' Songbook] The Ballad of Jamie Steele auswählen, denn damit könnte ich die Erinnerung an meinen Vater für immer am Leben erhalten. (Davy Steele, Programmheft ScFF '97, p. 23)