Coal Mining Top Ten: New York Mining Disaster 1941 (#10)
By Four Walls
@FourWalls (61898)
United States
June 20, 2018 9:04am CST
Y'all missed this, didn't you? Well, practice so your aim will improve! 
Yesterday I posted a discussion about visiting the Hurricane Creek Disaster Memorial in Hyden, Kentucky, which leads into this top ten, dealing with songs about coal mining. It's an accepted way of life here in Kentucky (and in our neighbors to the east, West Virginia). Here's the first song on the list.
#10: New York Mining Disaster 1941 - Bee Gees
What's a great song do to people? It starts them looking for articles related to the event depicted in the song. This is no Edmund Fitzgerald, though: even though Robin Gibb claimed there had been a mining disaster in New York in 1939 instead of 1941, no mining accidents are listed for the state of New York in or around that time frame. So this is just a figment of the Bee Gees' imagination.
However, the year before this song was released, there was a mining disaster in Wales: a coal landslide buried an elementary school in the town below, taking over 100 children. Robin said the disaster was partly the inspiration for this song.
More likely, though, was where Robin wrote it with brother Barry: according to Picky Wedia, they were in a darkened stairwell, located next to an elevator, at Polydor Records. It gave them the feeling of being trapped in a mine. The song is two miners talking to each other, while waiting to be rescued. One pulls out a photo of his wife and shows it to his co-worker (the well-known line and U.S. subtitle, "Have you seen my wife, Mr. Jones?"). Hope fades inside as they speculate the rescuers assume everyone is dead and have stopped searching for survivors.
From there, history was born. "New York Mining Disaster 1941" was the first Bee Gees single in the US. Interestingly, a lot of stations played this song because they thought it was the Beatles (B.G. stands for "Brothers Gibb," not "Beatles Guys," but back in '67 everything was about the Beatles). "Unintentional," Maurice Gibb assured George Harrison (per Wikipedia) when the two met and Harrison told Gibb he'd bought the single because it did sound like the Beatles.
Okay, I might be missing that aspect of the song. But there's no missing how good it is, and what a legendary career it launched.
New York Mining Disaster 1941
Written by Barry Gibb and Robin Gibb
Recorded by the Bee Gees
From Bee Gees' First, 1967
Don't go talking too loud:
Yesterday I posted a discussion about visiting the Hurricane Creek Disaster Memorial in Hyden, Kentucky, which leads into this top ten, dealing with songs about coal mining. It's an accepted way of life here in Kentucky (and in our neighbors to the east, West Virginia). Here's the first song on the list.
#10: New York Mining Disaster 1941 - Bee Gees
What's a great song do to people? It starts them looking for articles related to the event depicted in the song. This is no Edmund Fitzgerald, though: even though Robin Gibb claimed there had been a mining disaster in New York in 1939 instead of 1941, no mining accidents are listed for the state of New York in or around that time frame. So this is just a figment of the Bee Gees' imagination.
However, the year before this song was released, there was a mining disaster in Wales: a coal landslide buried an elementary school in the town below, taking over 100 children. Robin said the disaster was partly the inspiration for this song.
More likely, though, was where Robin wrote it with brother Barry: according to Picky Wedia, they were in a darkened stairwell, located next to an elevator, at Polydor Records. It gave them the feeling of being trapped in a mine. The song is two miners talking to each other, while waiting to be rescued. One pulls out a photo of his wife and shows it to his co-worker (the well-known line and U.S. subtitle, "Have you seen my wife, Mr. Jones?"). Hope fades inside as they speculate the rescuers assume everyone is dead and have stopped searching for survivors.
From there, history was born. "New York Mining Disaster 1941" was the first Bee Gees single in the US. Interestingly, a lot of stations played this song because they thought it was the Beatles (B.G. stands for "Brothers Gibb," not "Beatles Guys," but back in '67 everything was about the Beatles). "Unintentional," Maurice Gibb assured George Harrison (per Wikipedia) when the two met and Harrison told Gibb he'd bought the single because it did sound like the Beatles.
Okay, I might be missing that aspect of the song. But there's no missing how good it is, and what a legendary career it launched.
New York Mining Disaster 1941
Written by Barry Gibb and Robin Gibb
Recorded by the Bee Gees
From Bee Gees' First, 1967
Don't go talking too loud:
"New York Mining Disaster 1941" is a 1967 song by the Bee Gees, written by Barry and Robin Gibb. Barring a moderately successful reissue of their Australian ...
2 people like this
2 responses
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
20 Jun 18
Just Stayin' Alive during that disaster.
2 people like this
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
20 Jun 18
@FourWalls Look, I started a joke.....
2 people like this
@FourWalls (61898)
• United States
20 Jun 18
@JohnRoberts — don’t run to me about it!
2 people like this
@1hopefulman (45123)
• Canada
20 Jun 18
I liked the song right away but I never connected the song to the Beatles. It doesn't sound like the Beatles nor do I hear any similarity. But what do I know?
1 person likes this
