Coal Tattoo

Travelin' down that coaltown road,

Listen to my rubber tires whine;

Goodbye to Buckeye and White Sycamore

I'm leavin' you behind.

Oh I've been a coal man all my life

Layin' down track in the hole,

Got a back like an ironwood bent by the wind

Blood veins blue as the coal.

Blood veins blue as the coal

Somebody said "That's a strange tattoo

You have on the side of your head."

I said "That's a mark of the No.9 coal

A little more and I'd be dead"

However I love the rumble and I love the dark

I love the cool of the slate.

But it's going down that new road lookin' for a job

It's the travelin' and lookin' I hate

It's the travelin' and lookin' I hate.

I've stood for the union, walkin' the line,

Fought against the company;

I Stood for the U. M. W. of A.

Now who's gonna stand for me?

Well I got no home and I got no pay,

Just got a worried soul;

And this blue tattoo on the side of my head

Left by the number nine coal.

Left by the number nine coal.

Someday when I'm dead and go

To Heaven, the land of my dreams,

I won't have to worry on losin' my job

To bad times 'n' big machines.

Well I got no job and I got no pay,

Just got a worried soul;

And this blue tattoo on the side of my head

Left by the number nine coal

Left by the number nine coal.