Down in the coal mine down below Covered in coal dust from head to toe Working the shift both night and day Come Friday night I’m gonna get my pay Come Friday night I’m gonna get my pay
Some might say this job’s no good But it pays my bills like I think it should The grime and dirt don’t matter to me My life is hard and nothing is free My life is hard and nothing is free
I was born in Tennessee We lost our farm back in ’83 One year later we dug Daddy’s grave I kept to the shovel and became a slave I kept to the shovel and became a slave
The sun goes up and the sun goes down It’s a different life here in a miner’s town There ain’t nobody here to care for me And if you got a solution won’t you share it with me And if you got a solution won’t you tell it to me
So I forget about my trouble, forget about my pain Living day to day’s about all I can sustain There ain’t enough booze in the state of Tennessee To help me to forget all the trouble that I see
I know someday they will close this mine I sure hope they will take their time The digging is all that’s left for me I buried my dreams in Tennessee My homestead back in Tennessee My homestead back in Tennessee Those childhood days in Tennessee