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Because reasons, "Category: Great Coal-Mining Songs" came up.
Tennessee Ernie Ford's "Sixteen Tons", instantly.
But then I remembered Jimmy Dean's "Big Bad John".
Then I remembered, too, that I owned "Big Bad John" on a 45. Then I remembered, also, that I so fucking old I know what a 45 is.
What even *is* culture?
C'est la guerre.
@GeePawHill Close the Coalhouse Door written by Alex Glasgow and sung by The Wilson Family is great.
@GeePawHill
Vinyl has been making something of a comeback thanks to hobbyists, so now there's a bell curve sweet spot of ages to not know what a 45 is
Came to look for Working in the Coal Mine by Devo and didn’t see it yet.
Oh, and I totally know that you weren’t asking. So I’ll add that I used to have a bunch of 45s because they were only a dollar, a lot of them. #BackOnTopic 😇
@CliftonR Oh! I think the L&M is the song I actually know by Jean Ritchie.
It's a damn good song, and she's a damn good singer and songwriter.
Genuine Appalachia born and bred, and a lot of the folk songs she had learned by word of mouth hark back several hundred years to older English versions.
And these people:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Men_of_the_Deeps
They'll likely be singing at Celtic Colours which should start streaming next week.
Lots of great offerings! This category is one of the really good ones.
@GeePawHill Another Great Coal Mining Song that's close to my heart: Coal Town Road by the Barra McNeils.
I have loved this song for dog's years and it still gives me goose bumps every single time.
@ShaulaEvans I mis-threaded. I like it. Has a very sea-shanty feel.
@GeePawHill The Barra McNeils are from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and their music is firmly in the Canadian Maritime folk music tradition that includes a lot of sea shanties!
@GeePawHill I am also familiar with the 45, thanks to Italian pop hits of the late 60s (and my parents)
@GeePawHill
Blue Diamond Mines is a good one.
Paradise by John Prine.
@gdinwiddie @GeePawHill off the beaten track, but James Keelaghan’s “Hillcrest Mine”: https://youtu.be/CL7M3LJXElI
@irvingreid @gdinwiddie I don't exactly remember, but I think I've heard it before.
@gdinwiddie I know of Jean Ritchie, but I hadn't heard "Blue Diamond Mines".
@gdinwiddie Of course, "Paradise". Arguably the *best* one. Can't think why it didn't come to me first. I grew *up* in strip-mining country, not pit mine country.
@GeePawHill growing up we had a whole carrier of 45s. At least some must have been my brother's since they were not anything my parents would have bought. Then why did I have them? Who bought them? This memory creates more questions than answers.
@GeePawHill I once drove with a friend on a road trip into Trinidad, Colorado (home of America's first gender alignment surgeon, if I recall correctly) very late on a pitch black night, hungry, looking for food. The kid working at the gas station recommended a restaurant that would still be open, but warned us it was fancy.
Steak house, light fixtures made of huge antlers. We walked in, sat down. Big Bad John started playing.
It was absolutely perfect.
@GeePawHill I once drove with a friend on a road trip into Trinidad, Colorado (home of America's first gender alignment surgeon, if I recall correctly very late on a pitch black night, hungry, looking for food. The kid working at the gas station recommended a restaurant that would still be open, but warned us it was fancy.
Steak house, light fixtures made of huge antlers. We walked in, sat down. Big Bad John started playing.
It was absolutely perfect.
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