Wednesday, January 04, 2006
THE PLEASURE IS NOT MINE
I cannot possibly imagine what it would be like to be trapped 260 feet BELOW THE GROUND, hoping against hope that they can dig you out before your oxygen goes bye bye and the CO makes you loopy and tired and then you "go to see Jesus," as Kinky Friedman and my boss are both fond of saying.
Being a musician, this news report had me thinking about coal mine songs. Songs that most people know, that describe what it's like to work in that awful business, such as "16 Tons," or "New York Mining Disaster 1941" by the Bee Gees (which, by the way, is based on a totally made-up event) or Merle Travis's "Dark As A Dungeon":
Come and listen, you fellers so young and so fine
And seek not your fortune in a dark dreary mine
It'll form as a habit and seep in your soul
Till the stream of your blood runs as black as the coal
Where it's dark as a dungeon and damp as the dew
The danger is double and the pleasures are few
Where the rain never falls and the sun never shines
It's a dark as a dungeon way down in the mine
Well it's many a man that I've seen in my day
Who lived just to labor his whole life away
Like a fiend with his dope and a drunkard his wine
A man will have lust for the lure of the mine
I pray when I'm dead and the ages shall roll
That my body will blacken and turn into coal
Then I'll look from the door of my heavenly home
and pity the miner digging my bones
Creepy.
And yes, because I'm a sick guy I've been fighting the urge to hum "Workin' in a Coal Mine" by Lee Dorsey and "Timothy" by the Buoys for the last few days. I'd apologize but you've probably got those songs in your head, too.
------
My CD is now in the final mastering stage. I'm trying to get a decent bass level on the songs. One more pass and we should have it. I also have a designer lined up for the cover, which is good.
Stay tuned.
------
It's official: I am the official ringleader/ringmaster/herder/gatherer/host/whatever for Alwun House's annual Erotic Poetry and Music Festivus, Feb. 24. More details as I clear them with the Alwun boys.
TT
I cannot possibly imagine what it would be like to be trapped 260 feet BELOW THE GROUND, hoping against hope that they can dig you out before your oxygen goes bye bye and the CO makes you loopy and tired and then you "go to see Jesus," as Kinky Friedman and my boss are both fond of saying.
Being a musician, this news report had me thinking about coal mine songs. Songs that most people know, that describe what it's like to work in that awful business, such as "16 Tons," or "New York Mining Disaster 1941" by the Bee Gees (which, by the way, is based on a totally made-up event) or Merle Travis's "Dark As A Dungeon":
Come and listen, you fellers so young and so fine
And seek not your fortune in a dark dreary mine
It'll form as a habit and seep in your soul
Till the stream of your blood runs as black as the coal
Where it's dark as a dungeon and damp as the dew
The danger is double and the pleasures are few
Where the rain never falls and the sun never shines
It's a dark as a dungeon way down in the mine
Well it's many a man that I've seen in my day
Who lived just to labor his whole life away
Like a fiend with his dope and a drunkard his wine
A man will have lust for the lure of the mine
I pray when I'm dead and the ages shall roll
That my body will blacken and turn into coal
Then I'll look from the door of my heavenly home
and pity the miner digging my bones
Creepy.
And yes, because I'm a sick guy I've been fighting the urge to hum "Workin' in a Coal Mine" by Lee Dorsey and "Timothy" by the Buoys for the last few days. I'd apologize but you've probably got those songs in your head, too.
------
My CD is now in the final mastering stage. I'm trying to get a decent bass level on the songs. One more pass and we should have it. I also have a designer lined up for the cover, which is good.
Stay tuned.
------
It's official: I am the official ringleader/ringmaster/herder/gatherer/host/whatever for Alwun House's annual Erotic Poetry and Music Festivus, Feb. 24. More details as I clear them with the Alwun boys.
TT
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