Prince Among Men - Andy Irvine

His dad was a miner and his granddad was too

There was never much question about what he might do

By the age of thirteen he had laid down his pen

And become a coal-miner and a prince among men

My goal as a young lad from a bright early age

Was to follow my hero down in that cage

Fairy lights and Pit Ponies were the stuff of my dreams

Never thinking how hard my dad worked at the seam

Only a miner killed under the ground

Only a miner and one more is found

Killed by accident no one can tell

Your mining’s all over, poor minr, farewell

Dad worked lik a Trojan his money to save

I’m afraid that he worked himself into his grave

And my schooling was paid at the cost of his lungs

Dad was an old man at the age of forty-one

I never will forget how his face lit with pride

When I got my diploma, he was there by my side

And I try to remember him as he was then

A rare moment of joy for a prince among men

A gold watch and chain inscribed James Doyle

Never seemed much reward for a life of such toil

But I keep his lamp burning and his old union card

And his bones rest here in this sunlit graveyard

My dad was a miner and a prince among men

Well loved by his wife and his family and friends

And his hardship and toil gave me the one chance I had

And generations of slavery died with my dad