Oysterband - The Bells of Rhymney (montage)

[@jabbermocky4520]

More of a tantrum than a song. I just LOVE it!

[@williamschuetze4999]

My grandfather survived the mines of Lanark only to come to America and work in the coal mines of mid-Michigan.

[@MalcolmHughes-de2wd]

The wonderful music of The Oyster Band and the fantastic vocals of my friend John Jones.

[@jabbermocky4520]

Big fan here. For many long years. Cheers to you and yours from Providence, Rhode Island.

[@latitudeCheck]

Welsh miner turned poet Idris Davies native son of Rhymney, Wales, left school at 14 & later self educated, earned his teaching credentials & wrote poetry after the mine closed. Idris Davis' haunting Gwalia Deserta XV published in 1938 memorializes Welsh churches' tradition of tolling the bells in tribute to lives lost in Welsh mining disasters in Welsh cities named throughout the poem. Seeger added the melody to Idris Davies' poem.

[@irland1961]

I was a Miner for over 35 Years.In 2018,the last Coal Mine will be closed in Germany,i`m so sorry! Glück Auf !!!!! for all the Miners all over the World.

[@HCherns]

When my wife and I visited Caerphilly in 1968, we were approached by a couple of secondary-school-aged kids who had been hired by the municipality to survey tourists. There were a bunch of questions, like Did you park in our new municipal car park?, Did you, or will you, visit the Castle, and so on; one of the questions was, Have you ever heard of Caerphilly before? We said something like, Well, there's the cheese, and the mention in the poem by Idris Davies put to music by Pete Seeger. The kids looked at each other and one said, "That's the third American just today..."

[@GatoWales]

It's pronounced Rum knee not Romney or Rimni. I am from the town and Idris Davies is an ancestor of mine. Fantastic song though from a great poem. Pete Seeger really put Rhymney on the map. There is a town called Rumney in Cardiff but Rhymney is 25 miles away from Cardiff and the river Rhymney passes through it to Cardiff (coming out in Rumney, Cardiff, hence the sames).

[@Flyrod11]

Gareth Owen Thanks for the insight, a favourite song of mine, My Dad's family were miners in Chesterfield for generations.

[@buttership]

A musical masterpiece of righteous anger and soul filled passion

[@mralftupper1234]

it's 20 miles from Cardiff at the top of the Rhumni valley. Near Merthyr

[@Corndawg2333]

Hands down, THE best version of this song by anyone.

[@jabbermocky4520]

Agree.

[@ceeandy]

This montage and song say it all about the toll coal mining has taken, especially in Wales.

[@irland1961]

Forgot,Great Video,Great Job!

[@Mehefinheulog1]

thanks, it's an amazing performance

[@Mehefinheulog1]

I think we can pretty much blame American Pete Seeger who "re-discovered" the poem and made it into a song and (especially) fellow Americans The Byrds who recorded in 1965 with a very strong "Rimmni" pronunciation !!

[@shelaghmoore445]

I used to correpsond with Mr Davies cousin and he never told me he was upset at the pronunciation He was a very proud Welshman,and especially proud that his relative had written it, even though he died before he was born. I think he would háve told me in no uncertain terms if he didnt like the way it was being handled, in pronunciation .He did say it should be Rhumney,but it wasnt written that way,and if the family can live with it,I guess there isnt a problem

[@philldavies7940]

Idris Davies died in 1953, he had worked underground in Abertwyswg (thank god he didn't include village in his words, the Byrds would still be working on the pronounciation today) ).. Peter Seeger released the first version ofthsi song in 1958, the Byrds mangled the pronunciation of Rhymney a few years later, so idris must have communicating his satisfaction by ouja board.

[@shelaghmoore445]

I was actually referring to the cousin, not Idris. As I said, he was dead before my correpondent was born, so how could he comment on what Idris would have thought? Hence my reference to the current family and their take on it.

[@hogwashmcturnip8930]

I wonder if Mr Davies has learned to read properly yet? What a gonk. I bet he voted Brexit! Lol!

[@Flyrod11]

I think maybe those who are so critical of the pronuciation should maybe just take a moment and think about the meaning of the song and reflect on the plight of miners all over the world. Just my humble opinion, that's all :)

[@Mehefinheulog1]

Derek Saxton ... so what is that final word shouted out by Oysterband? To me it sounds an awful lot like "BASTARDS!!!"

[@Dagworth]

it is indeed Bastards... Tory Bastards

[@Mehefinheulog1]

Could be. Hard to say lol genius.com/Oysterband-bells-of-rhymney-1994-lyrics

[@fabioritapaiva3312]

Imagens da Revolução Industrial!

[@menelise]

Pronunciation. The song (poem) was written and is performed in English (Saesneg), so the place-names are also in English. Rhymney is the English form of the Welsh name Rhymni. In the Welsh form, not only is the "y" a Welsh "y", but the "Rh" is pronounced as a sort of aspirated "R". This is irrelevant, however, as Davies chose the English version of this and all other place names in his poem (otherwise the song would be about bells in Abertawe, Cas Newydd, Caerdydd, and so on). Listen to how English-speakers pronounce other foreign-language placenames: generally pathetic, so their attempts at Rhymney, which is, as already pointed out, the English form, isn't too bad.

[@TimeTheory2099]

This original post is from 2011 so it's unlikely the creator will respond, but if anyone knows is the poem about a specific mining accident or is it just in general all the accidents over the decades? As a youth i liked the tune, but never understood the lyrics, except the Byrd's were singing about different colored Bell's for some reason.

[@Mehefinheulog1]

It's not totally unlikely :)

[@TimeTheory2099]

@@Mehefinheulog1 Thanks, but was it a specific mining accident or just a poem in general?

[@Mehefinheulog1]

The original poem was by Idris Davies, first published in book form in his 1938 anthology "Gwalia Deserta". The Marine Collier disaster of 1927, in Cwm, Ebbw Vales on March 1st (St David's Day) , where 52 men died, may well have stuck in his mind. He was himself a miner and lost a finger in a coal-face accident , before the pit closed and he became unemployed. I think the poem was more about the economic plight of the area, especially after the 1926 General Strike. The fact that the South Wales valleys were becoming a wasteland or "Desert" through industrial exploitation and injustice. The video has images of mining life in general and Welsh mining disasters, even some modern ones, but also has some of the 1839 Newport Uprising. Sorry it's so bleak. The poem is pretty bleak. There were three separate mining disasters in Blaina in 1837, 1856 and 1882 which had killed a total of 38: "Who killed the miners? Say the grim bells of Blaina."

[@TimeTheory2099]

@@Mehefinheulog1 Thanks again 😃👍

[@CoastObserver]

@@Mehefinheulog1 Thanks for the post & information. It's a great video.

[@crgrbrts]

Rum-nee

[@marcroigcebrian]

🇪🇦🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿👍

[@elscrimmo]

The lyrics are a poem written by a welsh poet (Idris Davies), who chose to make it rhyme with "give me", so it's Rimni in the poem, but Rumni if you want to get there. How you pronounce it if you're reciting the poem while you're there, and don't want to cause offence/sound ignorant, is anybody's guess.

[@philldavies7940]

your explanation makes no sense. Idris Davies was from Rhymney, nobody hear pronounces it rim-nee, he would never have heard that. As for rhyming, "Rhymney" - pronounced rum-nee rhymes with "give me", its the second syllable that rhymes, not the way peter seeger mispronounced the first, otherwise every welsh name in the poem would have been similarly mangled.

[@melodoubt]

So what is the correct pronuciation of Rhymney please Micheal? Is it 'Romney' Rhumney' or is it simply Rimney? : )

[@tibby51]

it's not rimney it's rhymney pronounced rumniy get it right

[@Mehefinheulog1]

Although no known recordings of him reciting his own poem survive, it seems very unlikely that Davies himself, born and bred in Rhymney, and a Welsh speaker, intended this. He uses other, equally weak rhymes in this part of his 1938 "Gwalia Deserta"- e.g. "future" with "Merthyr", "mineowner" with "Rhondda" and "sullen" with "Brecon" - no-one has suggested it's meant to be pronounced "Brucken" etc etc

[@philldavies7940]

Nobody but nobody in South Wales pronounces it Rim-ney, everybody knows its pronounced Rum-nee. Beyond the village, there's a district of Cardiff with the same name (different spelling) and even more importantly, the whole area is called the Rhymney valley (after the Rhymney river) which alongside the Rhondda valley were probably the two most important coal producing valleys in the South wales coalfield.

[@furryanimal8776]

Shame about the mispronunciation...

[@Mehefinheulog1]

yes I know, these Americans, what can you do

[@johnchristopher3955]

Great Political Rant