Paul Epstein's Miners of Sago song

(From WV Writers member, Paul Epstein)

It is one year this month that 12 miners died in a coal mine at Sago, WV. I wrote this song last week and uploaded it to my Garageband website for free streaming or download. If you like it, pass it on. I've pasted the words below. If you have trouble with Garageband and want me to e-mail the mp3 file, let me know (I can send a low bit-rate mp3 that's under 2 mb or CD quality at about 4 mb).

Here's the direct link to the song page: http://www.garageband.com/song?pe1S8LTM0LdsaSlaVW0Y2s

Here's the link to my main page: (then look for name Miners of Sago at right, click green arrow to hear, or name of song to go to song page for download): http://www.garageband.com/paul_epstein


The Miners of Sago are Calling

©Paul Epstein, 2007


If I were a miner working down in a hole
Diggin’ out rock to get to the coal
I’d want the owners whose profit’s at stake
To work there beside me makin’ sure that it’s safe

But they live in mansions and fly in their jets
And use politicians like they were their pets
They bust up the unions, buy ads on TV
They’d rather pay fines than pay for safety


Chorus:

The miners of Sago are callin’
From their graves in the WV hills
Sayin’ it’s time to stop stallin’
Make the companies swallow their pill


Good pay won’t ease the sorrow
Insurance may cover the cost
The coal will still be there tomorrow
It ain’t worth the lives that are lost

Coal has no future, some people say
It’s dirty pollution has had it’s heyday
Flattening mountains to get at the seams
Is destroying their beauty and poisoning streams

It’s true that the jobs and the taxes coal pays
Are a godsend to states that have few other ways
For people to earn more than minimum wage
But it’s time that we learned to turn a new page



(Paul Epstein http://webpages.charter.net/contrarians/paulepstein )