Author: Trad / Arr: Christy Moore
By Clyde’s Bonnie Banks as I sadly did wander,
Among the pit heaps as evening drew nigh.
I spied a fair maiden all dressed in deep mourning,
She was weeping and wailing with many a sigh.
I stepped up beside her and thus I addressed her;
“Pray tell me fair maid of your sorrow and pain.”
Oh sobbing and sighing at last she did answer;
“Johnny Murphy, kind sir, was my true lover’s name.”
Twenty one years of age full of youth and good looking,
To work in the mines of high Blantyre he came.
The wedding was fixed all the guest were invited,
That calm summers evening my Johnny was slain.
The explosion was heard, all the women and children,
With pale anxious faces they ran to the mine.
When the news was made known all the hills rang with mourning,
Three hundred and ten young miners were slain.
Now husbands and wives and sweethearts and brothers,
That Blantyre explosion you’ll never forget.
And all you young miners that hear my sad story,
Remember your comrades who lie at their rest.
More Info
maybe it was Arthur Johnson of Glasgow or Dick Gaughan of Leith who first sang this song, it could have been in the backroom of The Scotia or the snug in Sandy Bells.Still the bosses skimp on safety conditions in the workplace.In 2007 I see it every where I go.