He also sings about the very primitive joy and pleasure of the miner's work ("the cool of the slate,") as well as the misery of bad times and trying to find work: "the traveling and looking I hate."
Wheeler's song probably got the most exposure via a cover version by Judy Collins, who sang passionately but...Judy? Working in a coal mine? Sporting a blue mark on the side of her head from getting slammed by a chunk of Number Nine coal? Ironically another Judy, Judy Henske, is strongly identified with Wheeler's other major effort, "High Flying Bird." That song also references the coal mines and a man who "never saw the sun but Lord, he never stopped tryin'." Mr. Wheeler is no longer in the mines; he's written a dozen plays and has mined the world of humor for joke book compilations.
COAL TATTOO, 1971, instant download. No waiting or code words.
UPDATE August 2011: With all the interest in this great song...here's
Billy Edd's earlier (Kapp) version of COAL TATTOO, instant download. No waiting, no money per download going to the blogger, and no capcha code words.
Billy Edd Wheeler!!! What a joy to hear Coal Tattoo by the original artist! Thank you...would love to hear High Flying Bird!
ReplyDeleteDeborah
Yes, I agree with Deborah.
ReplyDeleteI ccould not find Billy Ed singing Coal Tatoo on youtube and wanted to hear the original since my husband and I are working the song up to sing together.
So many sites have all the wrong words posted for one thing and not to mention,nobody sings it like Billy Ed!
I love this website...thank you for taking the time to gather together all these wonderful songs. I will return again and again to listen to the rest of the songs you have here.
Thank you,
Ruthie Hunter
Thanks Ruthie. Billy Edd recorded "Coal Tattoo" at least twice. I think he stuck with his original lyrics both times!
ReplyDeleteThe "folk tradition" seems to dictate that singers are "allowed" to change or adapt the lyrics. That might account for why you can go to different lyric sites and see wrong words. Judy Collins changed a word here and there.
It is a joy to hear the original artist and the half verse about dues and hospital plans is completely new to me. Most artists seem to follow the Judy Collins version.
ReplyDeleteI love "High Flying Bird" too. I learned it from another folky back in the sixties. I've didn't know who wrote it and I've never heard the original. My lyrics have probably sucumbed to the "folk process" also.
Thanks
Such a long-ago thread and how lovely to find it! I have the Kingston Trio's version of "Coal Tattoo" on my YT playlist (and have had the vinyl album since the 1960s), but today after 50+ years I wondered about the story behind the song. You've given me great joy this early morning to let me hear Billy Edd Wheeler's own versions. I dug just a little further, and this article: United Mine Workers of America - gave me insight into the "when I go to heaven" verse.
ReplyDeleteIt was a pleasure reading the post and comments.
Thanks, Marcia. Yes, I should've mentioned the Kingston Trio's version. The issue of coal and its dangers is still with us, with President Trump defending it on the grounds that miners make their living from it. Others say the miners should be given better and safer menial jobs than this, and be put to work on America's deteriorating roads and highways, perhaps. Wish Billy Edd himself was better known, but that's the songwriters' lot.
ReplyDelete