i'm a man of constant sorrow
i've seen trouble all my days
i'm going back to where I come from
to the place I was born and raised
to the place I was born and raised


and if I lean my head just backwards
i can see that market place
miners wait for coal-board buses
morning light for black-coal face
morning light for black-coal face

there's jimmy mills and bosco severn
levis shaw and manta ray
they're smoking one last conscious woodbine
before darkness dims their day
before darkness dims their day

and just last night they worked their gardens
hoeing rows and tending leaves
no they're digging ancient summers
bringing in the sheaves
bringing in the fiery sheaves

and they shut them down and they left them
buried coal for evermore
now the market place stands empty
but there's still a sign that says “remember 84”
we remember ‘84

i'm a man of constant sorrow
i've seen trouble all my days
i'm going back to where I come from
to the place I was born and raised
to the place I was born and raised