The task I have been set is to develop as song from the basic structure, approach and narrative style of "The Blantyre Explosion." Regarded as a traditional classic the song explores the emotional impact of those affected in the aftermath of Scotland's worst mining disaster at Dixon's Blantyre Colliery in 1877. I have been asked to write a song that utilises similar lyrical and musical techniques to develop the personal resonance achieved in that song but based around contemporary events.
It didn't take me long to decide I would write the song about one of Scotland's most recent disasters, the Clutha helicopter crash in Glasgow in 2013, when ten people lost their lives and many more were injured.
It didn't take me long to decide I would write the song about one of Scotland's most recent disasters, the Clutha helicopter crash in Glasgow in 2013, when ten people lost their lives and many more were injured.