Born in Slamannan (Falkirk), Corrie's family moved to Cardenden at a young age and he went to work in the local coal mine in 1908. Described by T.S. Eliot as 'the greatest Scots poet since Burns', Joe Corrie's poems were inspired by the mining communities of West Fife and explore socialist themes. The first performances of his plays Hogmanay and The Shillin'-a-week Man raised money to feed the miners during the General Strike (1926). Corrie died in Edinburgh and his name is remembered in the Corrie Centre at Cardenden.
بنو غيث مرة أخري، تلك المرة مع حمدي غيث وصوته القادم من زمن الخيل والسيف استمعت لتلك الأعذوبة التي جسدت معاناة الانسان المطحون ومهدور الحق ما بين الموت جوعا والموت محترقا، كم هي ملهمة ومعذبة علي الرغم من نهايتها التي لم تكن علي ذلك القدر من المأساوية