'Dark as a dungeon, damp as the dew
where the dangers are many and the pleasures are few,
where the rain never falls and the sun never shines
it's dark as a dungeon way down in the mines.'

Merle Travis

(Austin, Texas, moon reflection, 11-30-11)


Videos of Dick Cavett interviewing the renowned actor Richard Burton can be found at YouTube.com. The July, 1980 interview really held my attention this morning. The one portion that stands out most is Richard Burton describing his childhood home in Wales, and describing his father's work as a coal miner.

During the day, after listening to Burton's and Cavett's familiar voices, references I've come across regarding the life of coal miners came to mind. For example, coal mining in Cornwall England in the late 1700s is brought to life in Winston Graham's historical novels, the Poldark series (including references to the Romans mining there centuries earlier).

There was the singer Loretta Lynn's life story in the film 'Coal Miner's Daughter', and the coal mining father of rocket scientist Homer Hickam in the fine movie 'October Sky'.

A standard in my repertoire on the guitar has long been the coal mining song quoted above, 'Dark as a Dungeon.' ('The Bells of Rhymney' is another beautiful, soul-piercing piece of music.)

The only song I remember from the Vancouver Folk Festival circa 1984 was one sung by a sociology professor from England. The lyrics of the song were the words of a little girl who worked in the mines, interviewed in a Parliament investigation long ago, and reported in the London papers. She explains that her back is hunched from bending over, pushing the carts filled with coal through the narrow tunnels, and that large patches of her hair are missing because at times she must push against the cart with her head.

I've never been near a coal mine, never lived in a home where coal was burned for heat, never spoken to a miner. I don't know why these songs and stories have stayed with me. Perhaps it's the genuine pathos and passion that comes through the voices of those who have lived within a coal mining community.

Dick Cavett Interviews Richard Burton - Part 1 (The coal mining segment begins in the last four minutes of this video and continues at the beginning of the next link.)



Dick Cavett Interviews Richard Burton - Part 2