Talk:We Work the Black Seam

Why this page

In Australia this track received more airplay than the rest of the album put together, so a likely search term and possible article. Andrewa (talk) 00:41, 16 July 2021 (UTC)

Background relevance

@Daniel Case First off, I want to thank you for revisiting this article. It appears that you conducted a noticeable amount of research on 1980s Thatcherite energy policies in the UK. The problem I have is that much of the content here deviates from what should be the main purpose of this article: the actual song. While some background information about the lyrical inspiration can be included here, I question whether it should be the primary focus of this article. If we can find a way to rework this article to focus more on the Sting song, that would be greatly appreciated. Dobbyelf62 (talk) 02:13, 8 December 2023 (UTC)

I haven't gotten started on the song section yet ... I have a lot of sources on that.

I may well trim that section down as I continue to expand the article. It's always much easier to write more than you need and cut afterwards than the other way around. Daniel Case (talk) 03:13, 8 December 2023 (UTC)

I'm excited to see how this turns out. I could only find the Washington Post article when searching for relevant articles, but perhaps I wasn't looking in the right places... Dobbyelf62 (talk) 03:51, 8 December 2023 (UTC)

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by AirshipJungleman29 talk 00:37, 25 February 2024 (UTC)

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• Comment or view
• Article history

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• ... that because of climate change, Sting has changed his mind about nuclear power since writing "We Work the Black Seam" in 1985? Source: "The politics of his songs have evolved as well. We talk about 'We Work the Black Seam,' a 1985 lament about Thatcherism, the danger of nuclear power and the loss of coal jobs in Newcastle and other areas that were dear to Sting’s childhood. Now, he is more versed in the downside of dirty coal and the necessity of nuclear power. 'What we know about power, I would say my position has shifted,' he says. 'I think if we’re going to tackle global warming, I think nuclear power is the only way you can create massive amounts of power.' Rolling Stone, 2016.
  • ALT1: ... that Sting inaccurately described carbon-14 as "deadly for twelve thousand years" in his 1985 protest song "We Work the Black Seam"? Source: "Carbon-14 is radioactive, but the claim that it is “deadly for twelve thousand years” is arbitrary and incorrect, even allowing Sting artistic license to make it. The half-life of C-14 is in the neighborhood of 5730 years, so 12,000 years is about two half-lives, or the time over which approximately three-fourths of a sample of C-14 would decay. Carbon-14 decays by emitting a beta particle (an electron), effectively converting one of the neutrons in its nucleus to a proton, and leaving behind Nitrogen-14, a stable isotope of the most common element in the atmosphere. Since Carbon-14 is a naturally-occuring isotope, this is a process that takes place around us all the time, and natural C-14 decay makes a small contribution to the background radiation that always surrounds us. Tiemann Investment Advisers, "Ruminations on Radiation: How cultural fears of radiation emanate", August 2019.
  • ALT2: ... that Sting reused the melody line of a song he wrote with the jazz group Last Exit for "We Work the Black Seam" a decade later? Source: "'We Work the Black Seam', originally released on the record First from Last Exit (July 1975) as 'Savage Beast' ... "The Music of Sting", Ph.D. dissertation, Christopher Rait, York University, 2019
  • ALT3: ... that Sting wrote "We Work the Black Seam" because he felt that "the case for coal was never put to the nation" during the 1984–85 British miners' strike, which began 40 years ago today? Source: "Also I felt that during the miners' strike the case for coal was never put to the nation. Kinnock didn't explain it, Arthur Scargill didn't even address it, it was complete personality rhetoric with Thatcher. And the case for coal is really strong." New Musical Express, June 1985, excerpted at Sting's website.
  • Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Brazilian cruiser Almirante Barroso (1882)
  • Comment: This doesn't have to happen, but if we have a long wait for this and it gets closer, March 6 would be a good date to run this as it's the 40th anniversary of the start of the British coal miners' strike that inspired the song (something that will no doubt be the subject of some coverage in the UK media). ALT3 would be good for that; the hook can easily be amended to note the occasion. But, as I said, as much as I love anniversary hooks, I'm not standing on ceremony; in fact the article would hardly be "new" by that point.

Converted from a redirect by Daniel Case (talk), Dobbyelf62 (talk), and Binksternet (talk). Nominated by Daniel Case (talk) at 22:33, 13 December 2023 (UTC). Post-promotion hook changes for this nom will be logged at Template talk:Did you know nominations/We Work the Black Seam; consider watching this nomination, if it is successful, until the hook appears on the Main Page.

• Comment: Daniel Case This is not a review, but you're right: as much as your entries look brilliant, promoting this nom so early might prevent us from placing the hook on the date you asked for... There's always the "Special occasion area", though! As a smart alternative option, you could try to improve both the articles about the song and the strike to GA status throughout this month, and then nominate them together for DYK: still, I'd ask @DYK admins: for some advice on whether this would be a good idea or not. Oltrepier (talk) 18:25, 1 January 2024 (UTC)

It wouldn't be the first time, if we went that route ... I wound up doing it with Midnight Sun Mosque when my first DYK nom was held to have been untimely, and that was suggested to me as an alternative route (I wanted it to be my 700th DYK, and ultimately it played out that way). I am not sure about the article on the strike, I certainly couldn't do it alone, but maybe help can be sought at the relevant projects (UK, LABOUR). But we do have just enough of a timeframe.

I, too, would be interested in hearing what other people think. Daniel Case (talk) 18:41, 1 January 2024 (UTC)

Marking this as needing a full review. Z1720 (talk) 19:09, 25 January 2024 (UTC)

Doing that now RoySmith (talk) 23:35, 27 January 2024 (UTC)

• New enough (converted from a redirect on Dec 7, nominated Dec 12)
• Long enough
• QPQ performed.
• No copyvio issues (just lots of false positives from Earwig)
• All four hook facts verify.
• All images are appropriately licensed (some are fair use, but that's fine)
• No other issues noted.
• Holding this for March 6 seems reasonable to me, but I'll let somebody else make that call.
• all four hooks approved RoySmith (talk) 23:55, 27 January 2024 (UTC)