Aberfan Disaster - Popular Culture

Popular Culture

• "The Aberfan Coal Tip Tragedy" by Thom Parrott, included on the Smithsonian Folkways CD set Best of Broadside. The song has also been recorded by Danish folk group Paddy Doyle’s.
• The Bee Gees’ 1967 hit single "New York Mining Disaster 1941" recounts the story of a miner trapped by a mine collapse, sharing a photo of his wife with a colleague while they hopelessly wait to be rescued. According to the liner notes for the band's box-set Tales from the Brothers Gibb (1990), the song was inspired by the Aberfan disaster.
• "Aberfan" by David Ackles, included on his album Five & Dime.
• The song "Palaces of Gold" by Leon Rosselson refers to the Aberfan tragedy. It has been recorded by such artists as Martin Carthy and Roy Bailey.
• "Aberfan" by Rhys Morgan (whose father was one of the men who helped digging and whose mother lost a brother in the tragedy).
• "Sing To My Soul" by Welsh musician Martyn Joseph refers to his memories of October 1966.
• "You Don't Need", a 1986 song by Canadian composer/musician Jane Siberry (now named 'Issa'), references the tragedy in a metaphorical manner.
• In literature Ian McEwan has his protagonist in the novel Saturday refer to the Aberfan Disaster as the decisive reason he does not believe in Fate or God.
• The song "Our God Reigns Here", by American singer/songwriter John Waller, which appears on his 2009 While I'm Waiting album, was written after Waller and his church group visited Wales on a missions trip in 2008. A local guide, also a survivor of the Aberfan Disaster, had told him that, in the years since the deadly landslide, the "spirit of death reigns over Aberfan", inspiring Waller to write the song.