Traveling on down that coal town road
Listen to my rubber tires whine
Goodbye to Buckeye and white sycamore
I'm leaving you behind

Oh, I've been a coal miner all my life
Laying down track in a hole
Got a back like ironwood, bent by the wind
Blood veins as blue as the coal
Blood veins as blue as the coal

Well, somebody said, "That's a strange tattoo
You have on the side of your head"
I said, "That's a blue mark left by the coal
Little more and I've been dead?"

Oh, I love the rumble and I love the dark
Oh, I love the cool of the slate
But it's going down that new road, looking for a job
Traveling and looking I hate
Traveling and looking I hate

Some day when I'm dead and gone
To heaven, the land of my dreams
I won't have to worry 'bout losing my job
To bad times and big machines

Oh, I got no house, Lord, I got no job
Just got a worried soul
And a blue tattoo on the side of my head
Left by the number nine coal
Left by the number nine coal