My first job was the Coalmont Pit
Took years to learn the ropes
Every spring is a song unsung 'cause
Winters get you by the throat
Father's a coal man my brother too
Mining cuts to the roots
Took months to make a dollar move
To keep a clean pair of boots
It's long nights under the pin oak hills
Driving trains up the run
Working blind through a virgin dawn
And driving home in noon sun
In April the tunnels are slick from rain
They smell rich of gas and grit
I just punched out when the fans reversed
And dust smoked up from the pit
The siren lights swung and the blast bell rang
No rest 'til the head count's in
They'll pay us time to dig up our friends
But not to bury them again
Twenty nine lost, two of them my blood
Took days to make them dead
Bosses frown, try to say things right
But what God gives men take to bed
What do you do when the feds come 'round
And who do you look to blame?
In a week's time I'll go back anyhow
Down that drip mouth just the same
Well I don't know..