Miner’s Lifeguard

På ”My Name Is Buddy – another record by Ry Cooder” (Nonesuch 7559-79961-2, 2007) finns ”Strike!”, en låt med ett tydligt samband bakåt till Peter Seeger och The Almanac Singers.

Vi tar Ry Cooders nya kampsång först:

Strike!

Text och musik: Ry Cooder, 2007

I got off the train one evening
in a little mining town
I started walking up the main street
when the sun was going down

When I heard some voices singing,
so I went to see what for
Might just be a birthday party.
might be room för just one more

It was miners and their families,
they had left the mine that day
Walked out for safe conditions,
on strike for decent pay

And they sang about their struggle,
and their spirit never failed
Keep your hand upon the dollar
and your eye upon the scale

Union miners stand together,
need no operator’s tale
Keep your hand upon the dollar
and your eye upon the scale

Den som är förtrogen med amerikansk arbetarmusik inser genast, vilken förlaga – textmässigt liksom musikaliskt – Ry Cooder har haft:

Miner’s Lifeguard

Text: gruvarbetarsång, i sin första version upptecknad cirka 1909
Musik: Trad (”Life Is Like A Mountain Railway”)

Miner’s life is like a sailor’s
’Board a ship to cross the waves.
Every day his life’s in danger
Still he ventures being brave.

Watch the rocks, they’re falling daily
Careless miners always fail.
Keep your hand upon the dollar
And your eye upon the scale.

Union miners stand together
Heed no operator’s tale.
Keep your hand upon the dollar
And your eye upon the scale.

You’ve been doffed and docked my boys
You’ve been loading two for one.
What have you to show for working
Since the mining has begun?

Overalls, and cans for rockers
In your shanties sleep on rails.
Keep your hand upon the dollar
And your eye upon the scale.

Union miners…

In conclusion, bear in memory
Keep the passwords in the mind.
God provides for every nation
When in union they combine.

Stand like men, and linked together
Victory for you’ll prevail.
Keep your hand upon the dollar
And your eye upon the scale.

Union miners…

En bra insjungning av ”Miner’s Lifeguard” finns på LPn ”The Original Talking Union with The Almanac Singers and Other Union Songs with Pete Seeger and Chorus” (Folkways Records FH 5285, 1955). Den går också att beställa som CD via Smithsonian Folkways hemsida.