Lyrics

Well it’s been over 40 years since the fires went out
In that muddy eastern town
Springhill 1958
The walls came crumbling down.

And then the sirens split the air
And it stopped the hearts that it found
There were 174 men below
Springhill town.

Well it was mine number two 13,000 feet
On that late October day
It was a bump that shook the town
And sent the rescue underway

They said a roof break back in the waste
Could have happened any day
But to those 174 men below
What would they say?

There was Henry Brine
There was Lester Reid
There was Gus Gillis too
There was Charles MacLeod from the Old East Road
And all the boys he knew

Well the rescue crew they worked round the clock
To pump air into the main
So the boys could work to clear the doors
Before the pillars failed again

And they were barefaced even with the gas
And they worked through the fear and the pain
To bring 99 men to the surface
To see the light of day again

There was Henry Brine
There was Lester Reid
There was Gus Gillis too
There was Charles MacLeod from the Old East Road
And all the boys he knew

Well it’s been over 40 years since the fires went out
In that muddy eastern town.

Lyrics transcribed by Heather Sparling from the recording.