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A favourite from Roy Palmer’s Songs of the Midlands book, collected in the early 60s from an old miner in Nuneaton. He said the song had travelled with him from his home in Durham. My version is the result of listening to traditional folk and Massive Attack at the same time - not a bad combination, as it turns out.

lyrics

Oh, who’ll replace this old miner?
And who will take my place below?
And who will follow the trepanner
Oh, dear god, when I go?

Oh, who will wield my heavy pick?
That I did wield for forty years?
And who will hew the black, black cole?
Who, dear god, when I go?

Oh, who will ride the miner’s train
That takes him to the dark coal face?
Who’ll take my place upon that train?
Who, dear god, when I go?

Oh, who will load this great iron tub?
Oh, who will strain his bending back?
And who will work, sweat and ache like hell?
Who, dear god, when I go?

Oh, who will cry when the roof caves in
When friends are dying all around?
And who will sing the miners’ hymn?
Who, dear god, when I go?

For forty years I’ve loved this mine
For forty years I’ve worked down there
Now, who’ll replace this old miner
When I’ve paid my god my fare?

credits

from Before I Knew What Had Begun I Had Already Lost, released May 5, 2023
Trad, arr Wilks. Roud 1136
Produced by Jon Wilks
Mix tweaks by Jim Moray
Mastered by Nick Cooke

Jon Wilks - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, mellotron, keyboards, percussion, vocals

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Jon Wilks Whitchurch, UK

'The sort of performer folk circles mean when they talk of the living tradition' - Mike Davies, Folking.com

“One of the best of the New Wave of Folk Blokes. As a guitar player and arranger of traditional songs, Jon Wilks already deserves speaking of in the same breath as your Simpsons and your Morays.” – Ian A. Anderson, fRoots Mag ... more

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