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Blantyre Explosion 
Blantyre Explosion 
By Clyde's bonny banks where I sadly did wander Among the pit heaps as evening drew nigh; I spied a young woman all dressed in deep mourning A-weeping and wailing with many a sigh. 
I stepped up beside her and thus I addressed her: "Pray tell me the cause of your trouble and pain." Weeping and sighing, at last she made answer "Johnny Murphy, kind sir, was my true lover's name." 
"Twenty-one years of age, full of youth and good looking To work down the mines of High Blantyre he came, The wedding was fixed, all the guests were invited That calm summer evening young Johnny was slain. 
The explosion was heard, all the women and children With pale anxious faces they haste to the mine. When the truth was made known, the hills rang with their mourning Three-hundred-and-ten young miners were slain. 
Now husbands and wives and sweethearts and brothers That Blantyre explosion they'll never forget; And all the young miners that hear my sad story Shed a tear for the victims who're laid to their rest. 
From Songs and Dances of Scotland, Thomson DT #543 Laws Q35