[chris]

Fire In The Hole is such a great song, and an excellent way to end a set. There seems to be a new found sense of urgency, and a rise in energy level from the band, every time I’ve seen it live. As a “miner” myself (although a pencil pushing, profiting eating engineer type these days, as my old co-workers and real miners would say), I’ve held a special place for this song for quite a while now. Have you ever seen the movie Matewan, and heard the old folk song called Fire In The Hole, which helped to inspire The Hip song? It’s worth tracking down some day…

Here's some info about the inspiration for Fire In The Hole:
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Here's the folk song.
And here's a live Hip version from 1993/94/95 (possibly High Sierra 1995).

And the Hazel Dickens version lyrics:
Fire In The Hole
You can tell them in the country, tell them in the town
Miners down in Mingo laid their shovels down
we won't pull another pillar, load another ton
or lift another finger until the union we have won

Stand up boys, let the bosses know
Turn your buckets over, turn your lanterns low
There's fire in our hearts and fire in our soul
but there ain't gonna be no fire in the hole

Daddy died a miner and grandpa he did too,
I'll bet this coal will kill me before my working days is through
And a hole this dark and dirty an early grave I find
And I plan to make a union for the ones I leave behind

Stand up boys, let the bosses know
Turn you buckets over, turn your lanterns low
There's fire in our hearts and fire in our soul
but there ain't gonna be no fire in the hole

There ain't gonna be no fire in the hole