Louisa Jo Killen (né Louis Killen) w… Read Full Bio ↴(10 January 1934 – 9 August 2013)
Louisa Jo Killen (né Louis Killen) was one of the most widely influential musicians of the folk revival and a key voice of English traditional song. She was a hard-core, unadulterated folksinger whose passionate delivery was matched by a deep and wide-ranging knowledge of the songs and the working people who made them.
Born and raised in the heart of the industrial North East of England, she came early to a love of folk music. Nurtured by a singing family whose tastes ran from liturgical music to cowboy songs, Irish ballads, grand opera, blues, jazz, classical and local Music Hall, the dominant music in her life has been the folk music of the British Isles. Killen's family background is predominantly Irish: her paternal great-grandfather brought the family from County Mayo to the banks of the River Tyne in 1852. Her grandfather married a Scotswoman and her father an Irishwoman.
Though her ancestry is largely Celtic, being a native Tynesider strongly affected her approach to music. Tyneside is an area that absorbs other cultures and converts them into its own - even after thirty-five years living in the USA, Killen's speaking accent still denoted her roots. The mixture of Irish, Scots and English living in the coal-mining and industrial region known to the ancients as Northumbria set it apart from the rest of England, pulling into it the musical traditions of all three countries while maintaining its own distinct musical style. Killen drew on all four traditions to bring a wide range of folk music to her audiences. To these four is added the Anglo-American tradition of deep-water shantying and sailor ballads common to both nations. Louisa Jo's first-hand experience working aboard brigs, brigantines, schooners and sloops in the late '60s and early '70s put her in the forefront of the current revival of maritime music on both sides of the Atlantic.
In a career spanning over forty years, with more than thirty-five albums/CDs to her credit, Killen's influence as a performer, teacher and inspiration to others was unparalleled. Over forty recordings spanning most of the latter part of the 20th Century. Louisa Jo was a living folk legend.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Killen
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/aug/19/louis-killen
The Blackleg Miners
Louis Killen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The blackleg miners creep te wark
Wi' their moleskin trousers an' dorty short
There go the backleg miners
They take their picks an' doon they go
Te dig the coal that lies belaw
An' there's not a woman in this toon-aw*
Will look at a blackleg miner
They rub wet clay in a blackleg's face
An' roond the pit-heaps they run a foot
Wi' the dorty blackleg miners
Now, don't go near the Seghill mine
Across the way they stretch a line
Te catch the throat an' break the spine
O' the dorty backleg miners
They'll take your tools an' duds as well
An' hoy them doon the pit o' hell
It's doon ye go, an' fare ye well
Ye dorty blackleg miners
Se join the union while ye may
Don't wait till your dyin' day
For that may not be far away
Ye dorty blackleg miners
*toon-raw = town-row
Louis Killen's song "The Blackleg Miners" depicts the struggle of the miners and the way they were treated in Delaval, a mining town in northern England. The Blackleg Miners, referring to strikebreakers and unscrupulous bosses who hire them, sneak in to work in the mines in the evening or at night, dressed in moleskin trousers and dirty work clothes, and without regard for the safety standards required of those who work in coal mines, mine for coal. As they go about their work, they are despised and reviled by the miners' wives and the other women in town. They are depicted as thieves who would steal anything related to the miners, including their tools and clothes.
The second verse of the song includes a vivid description of the harrowing conditions that the blacklegs miners work in with something wet like clay being rubbed in their faces, and as they work about in the pits, death awaits them at every turn. As for the Seghill Mine, the verse suggests that the miners did not go near it since it was deemed to be blacklisted for its notoriety to ensnare the miners and break their spirits. The final verse urges the blackleg miners to join the union since "that may not be far away". The song's message is clear: the miners are being exploited and abused by the wealthy bosses who run the mines, and the use of blackleg miners to undermine their strike action is something that cannot be tolerated.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh, early in the evenin', just after dark
At nightfall, just after it's become dark outside
The blackleg miners creep te wark
The scab miners sneakily make their way to work
Wi' their moleskin trousers an' dorty short
Wearing heavy-duty pants and dirty shirts
There go the backleg miners
Here come the scab miners
They take their picks an' doon they go
They grab their digging tools and head underground
Te dig the coal that lies belaw
To excavate the coal that's underneath
An' there's not a woman in this toon-aw*
And none of the women in this town will give them the time of day
Will look at a blackleg miner
They won't even give the scabs a glance
Oh, Delaval is a terrible place
Delaval is a dreadful location
They rub wet clay in a blackleg's face
They smear wet clay on the faces of scab miners
An' roond the pit-heaps they run a foot
They run around the coal mines looking for the scabs
Wi' the dorty blackleg miners
With these filthy scabs
Now, don't go near the Seghill mine
Avoid going to the Seghill mine
Across the way they stretch a line
They've set up a barrier across the entrance
Te catch the throat an' break the spine
Intending to choke and hurt the scab miners
O' the dorty backleg miners
Of these grimy scabs
They'll take your tools an' duds as well
They'll confiscate your tools and clothes too
An' hoy them doon the pit o' hell
Then toss them down into the depths of the mine
It's doon ye go, an' fare ye well
You're getting sent down there, and that's it
Ye dorty blackleg miners
You nasty scabs
Se join the union while ye may
Join the union before it's too late
Don't wait till your dyin' day
Don't put it off until you're on your deathbed
For that may not be far away
Because that time might come soon
Ye dorty blackleg miners
You filthy scabs
Contributed by Tyler K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.