Текст песни Misc Traditional - Blackleg Miner

Traditional, from Northumberland (north-eastern England). 
There have been many miners' strikes over the years,
and it's unclear which one this dates from - perhaps from the strikes of 1844,
which collapsed after 20 weeks thanks to strike-breaking (blackleg) miners. 
It enjoyed a revival thanks to the miners' strikes of the 1980s 
under Margaret Thatcher's government.

Various artists have recorded this; this version is from the oral tradition 
of Forest School Camps.

It's in the evening, after dark
The blackleg miner gangs ta wark
In his moleskin pants and dirty shirt
There goes the blackleg miner

He takes his pick and down he goes
To hew the coal that lies below
There's not a woman in this town row
Would look at a blackleg miner

For Deleval is a terrible place
They rub wet clay in a blackleg's face
Around the pits they run a foot race
To catch the blackleg miner

And don't go near the Seghill mine
Across the top they've stretched a line
To catch the throat and break the spine
Of the dirty blackleg miner

Well they take his pick and duds as well
And they hurl them down the pit of Hell
So off you go and fare thee well
You dirty blackleg miner

So join the union while you may
Don't wait till your dying day
For that may not be far away
You dirty blackleg miner