Dwight Yoakam wrote a song which captures perfectly the coal miners life.
When the whistle blows each morning
And I walk down in that cold, dark mine
I say a prayer to my dear Savior
Please let me see the sunshine one more time
(Chorus:)
When oh when will it be over
When will I lay these burdens down
And when I die, dear Lord in heaven
Please take my soul from ‘neath that cold dark ground
I still grieve for my poor brother
And I still hear my dear old mother cry
When late that night they came and told her
He’d lost his life down in the Big Shoal Mine
(Chorus:)
When oh when will it be over
When will I lay these burdens down
And when I die, dear Lord in heaven
Please take my soul from ‘neath that cold dark ground
I have no shame, I feel no sorrow
If on this earth not much I own
I have the love of my sweet children
An old plow mule, a shovel and a hoe
(Chorus:)
When oh when will it be over
When will I lay these burdens down
And when I die, dear Lord in heaven
Please take my soul from ‘neath that cold dark ground
Yeah, when I die, dear Lord in heaven
Please take my soul from ‘neath that cold dark ground
I’ve come to believe that “miner” ranks right up there with “farmer/rancher” and perhaps “commercial fisherman” when it comes to influencing Junior to pack his bags and seek his fortune in the Big City doing something *other* than that.
Dark As A Dungeon
Lyrics: Merle Travis
Music: Merle Travis
Played by Jerry Garcia with David Grisman.
Come all you young fellows so young and so fine
And seek not your fortune in the dark dreary mine
It will form like a habit and seep in your soul
Till the stream of your blood runs as black as the coal
Chorus
Where it’s dark as a dungeon and damp as the dew
Where the danger is doubled and the pleasures are few
Where the rain never falls and the sun never shines
It’s dark as a dungeon way down in the mine
There’s many a man I’ve seen in my day
Who lived just to labor his whole life away
Like a fiend with his dope and a drunkard his wine
A man will have lust for the lure of the mine
[chorus]
Oh when I am dead and the ages shall roll
My body will blacken and turn into coal
Then I’ll look from the door of my heavenly home
And pity the miner a-digging my bones
[Chorus]
Where the rain never falls and the sun never shines
It’s dark as a dungeon way down in the mine
Jerry Garcia Recordings
Date Album Recorded By
199? Been All Around This World Garcia/Grisman