Notes and Quotes: "New York Mining Disaster, 1941"
photo: "New York Mining Disaster" (sleeve)
photo: Aberfan landslide
The Gibb brothers based this song on a recent (21 October 1966) mining-related disaster (a slag heap liquefied in heavy rains and buried part of a town, including a school with its children) in Aberfan, Wales; however, they changed the time and place in order to avoid grief for the families. The song falls into the classic folk genre of the broadside ballad. Broadside ballads (in the days before newspapers and universal literacy) provided details about events for the working class.
photo: Aberfan mass grave
Original demo recorded 7 March 1967, Polydor Studio, London; lead vocal probably Robin Gibb; mono demo unreleased.
Schedule
4 April, 2012