Blackleg Miner by Snipeworld from Barrow-in-furness United Kingdom

blackleg miner (traditional)
this arrangement (c) 2020 jack snipe
a track from “return to van diemen's land” by jack snipe
digitally re-mastered from the original dat master tape may 2020
a short cat production:
the band
jaqui spry ~ vocals
bob qazi ~ vocals, acoustic guitar, mandolin, mandola
ken mcleod ~ vocals, acoustic guitar
mark o'neill ~ bass
dave walmsley ~ keyboards, acoustic & slide guitars, sfx
with
john ranson ~ electric guitars
iain payne ~ electric guitars
ian gibbons ~ electric guitars

recorded at lizard studios

bob ~ lead vocals

according to wikipedia: -
the song is believed to originate from the miners' lockout of 1844. although this was a national lock-out, the language of the song suggests that it refers to the dispute in the north-east coalfield, which lasted roughly 20 weeks. the lockout largely collapsed as a result of "blackleg" labour...

the village of seghill, mentioned in the song, was the site of a mass eviction of striking miners during the 1844 lockout. thomas burt wrote of the situation: “the very magnitude of the evictions, extending over nearly the whole of the mining districts of northumberland and durham, made it impossible to find house accommodation for a twentieth part of the evicted. scores of the seghill families camped out by the roadside between that village and the avenue head...”

the song depicts the determined, uncompromising stance against strikebreakers adopted by unionised strikers. the term blackleg for a strikebreaker has its origins in coal mining, as strikebreakers would return covered in black coal dust which would give away that they had been working whilst others had been on strike. the coal-mining sector in the uk was always heavily unionised, and mining strikes such as in 1926, 1974 and 1984-5 have had big impacts on british society. the strikes caused bitterness both within and between pit communities, but also gave rise to expressions of solidarity such as sympathy strikes, material assistance such as food, and a feeling of belonging to a proud and powerful community of workers...

the lyrics describe tactics common for attacking strikebreakers in the 19th century. across the way they stretch a line/ to catch the throat and break the spine/ of the dirty blackleg miner describes how a rope was often stretched across the entrance to a colliery to catch strikebreakers by the throat and flick them backwards, often causing them to injure themselves through falling. strikebreakers were often stripped of their clothes and working tools once caught...

it's in the evening after dark,
when the blackleg miner s to work,
with his moleskin pants and dirty shirt,
there gaans the blackleg miner!

well he takes his tools and doon he gaans
to hew the coal that lies below,
there's not a woman in this town-row
will look at the blackleg miner.

oh, delaval is a terrible place.
they rub wet clay in the blackleg's face,
and aroond the heaps they run a foot race,
to catch the blackleg miner!

so, divvint gaan near the seghill mine.
across the way they stretch a line,
to catch the throat and break the spine
of the dirty blackleg miner.

they grab his duds and his pick as well,
and they hoy them down the pit of .
doon ye gaan, and fare ye well,
you dirty blackleg miner!

so join the union while you may.
divvin't wait till your dying day,
for that may not be far away,
you dirty blackleg miner!

and finally, some more snipe trivia: in 2005 bob joined ken and dave "dapper" miller in the rockin dangleberries to present day- dapper died in 2016.
in 2006 dapper and bob formed the blues,rock, pop covers band the flying cascara brothers. band still going now. ken joined another band bloodshot eyes in the 90s during the snipe hiatus. bob formed a blues band in 2018 ed sunhouse blues...