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Auchengeich Disaster
(Words: Norman Buchan / Music: Trad)

Song Lyric as sung by Dick Gaughan

In Auchengeich there stauns a pit
The wheel above it isnae turnin
For on a gray September morn
The fires o Hell below were burnin

Tho in below the coal lay rich
It's richer nou for aa that burnin
For forty sieven brave men lie deid
Tae wives an sweetherts ne'er returnin

The seams are rich in Auchengeich
The coal below is black an glistenin
But, och, the cost is faur ower dear
For human lives there is nae recknin

For coal is black an coal is reid
An coal is rich ayont a treasure
It's black wi wark an reid wi bluid
It's richness nou in lives we measure

Faur better that we'd never wrocht
A thousan years o wark an grievin
For the coal is black like the mournin shroud
The women left behind are weavin

Song Notes

Norman Buchan wrote this to the tune known as "Skippin Barfit Thro The Heather"

Help with language and pronunciation in the General Guide to Scots

Recorded by Dick Gaughan

Also recorded by

 

Music is available for this song in these formats:

mp3
Sample

Available here

Notation
& Chords

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MIDI
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ABC
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Related pages on other sites

The following links are to other websites and I am not responsible for what you might find there. Sites do change without warning and it is impossible for me to keep checking that links go where they should.

Song Archive

Lyrics and music for songs sung by Dick Gaughan

Gaughan Website
Song Archive
Song Index A
Auchengeich Disaster