In the town of Springhill, Nova Scotia
Down in the dark of the Cumberland mine
There's blood on the coal and the miners lie
In roads that never saw a sun nor sky
Roads that never saw a sun nor sky

Down at the coal face the miner's working
Rattle of the belt and the cutter's blade
The crumble of rocks and the walls close round
Living and the dead men two miles down
Living and the dead men two miles down

Twelve men lay two miles from the pitshaft
Listening for the drilling of a rescue team
Six hundred feet of coal and slag
Hope imprisoned in a three-foot seam
Hope imprisoned in a three-foot seam

Eight days passed and some were rescued
Leaving the dead to lie alone
All their lives they dug their graves
Two miles of earth for a marking stone
Two miles of earth for a marking stone

In the town of Spring Hill you don't sleep easy
Often the Earth will tremble and groan
When the Earth is restless, miners die
Bone and blood is the price of coal
Bone and blood is the price of coal