Blantyre Explosion - Christy Moore

By Clyde’s bonny banks as I slowly did wander

Among the pit heaps as the evening grew nigh

I spied a young woman all dressed in black mourning

Weeping and wailing with many a sigh

I stepped up beside her and gently addressed her

Would it help you to talk about the cause of your pain?

Weeping and wailing at last she did answer

Johnny Murphy, kind sir, is my true lover’s name

Twenty one years of age, full of youth and good looking

To work down the mine of High Blantyre he came

Our wedding was fixed all the guests were invited

That calm summers' evening my Johnny was slain

The explosion was heard by the women and children

With pale anxious faces they ran to the mine

When the news was made known all the hills rang with mourning

Thee hundred and ten Scottish miners were slain

Mothers and daughters and sweethearts and lovers

The Blantyre explosion you’ll never forget

All you good people who hear my sad story

Remember the miners who lie at their rest