Here in Harlan County, the choices are few

To keep food on the table and the babies in shoes 

You can grow marijuana way back in the pines

Or work for the man down in the mine



You never forget your first day in the hole 

There's a pit in your stomach and your mouth's full of coal 

There's no turning back once you make up your mind 

As the cart rattles on down in the mine 



Way down in the mine, your tears turn to mud

And you can't catch your breath for the dust in your lungs 

Loading hillbilly gold where the sun never shines

Twelve hours a day, diggin' your grave

Way down in the mine



Well the old timers talk but you just don't believe

It can all go to hell at two thousand feet

Life sways in the balance of nature and time 

And fate has no mercy down in the mine



The news spreads like fire and burned through those hills

Hopes were held high but five men got killed 

On the wings of canaries, your soul surely flies 

While your bones spend eternity down in the mine



Way down in the mine, your tears turn to mud

And you can't catch your breath for the dust in your lungs 

Loading hillbilly gold where the sun never shines

Twelve hours a day, diggin' your grave

Way down in the mine



So take a flask from your crib can can and a pull of moonshine

And say a prayer for them boys down in the mine