The Blantyre Explosion

By Clyde's bonnie banks as I sadly did wander

Among the pit heaps as evening grew nigh

I spied a young maiden all dressed in deep mourning

A weeping and wailing with many a sigh

I stepped up beside her and this I adressed her

"Pray, tell me fair maid of your trouble and pain."

Sobbing and sighing at last she did 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's evening my Johnny was slain

The explosion was heard all the women and children

With pale anxious faces made 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 you young miners who hear my sad story

Shed a tear for the victims who were laid to their rest."