Coalminers

[Verse 1]

Come all you coal miners, wherever you may be

And listen to the story that I relate to thee

My name is nothing extra but the truth to you I tell

I am a coal miner and I'm sure I wish you well

[Verse 2]

I was born in old Kentucky, in a coal camp born and bred

I know about old beans, bulldog gravy and cornbread

I know how the miners work and slave in the coal mines every day

For a dollar in the company store, for that is all they pay

[Verse 3]

Mining is the most dangerous work in our land today

With plenty of dirty, slaving work, very little pay

Coal miners, won't you wake up and open your eyes and see

What this dirty capitalist system has done to you and me?

[Verse 4]

Dear miners, they will slave you 'til you can't work no more

And what will you get for your labor but a dollar in the company store?

A tumbledown shack to live in, snow and rain pouring through the top

You have to pay the company rent and your payments never stop

[Verse 5]

They take our very lifeblood, they take our children's lives

Take fathers away from children, take husbands away from wives

Coal miners, won't you organize wherever you may be?

And make this a land of freedom for workers like you and me

[Outro]

I am a coal miner and I'm sure I wish you well

Let's sink this capitalist system to the darkest pits of hell