There’s a tarpaper shack down in the valley
Where I have lived these 30 years
But it will be my home no longer
When I leave this vale of tears

There ain't no tarpaper shacks in heaven
The Lord will be my Landlord there
The creeks are bright and clear in heaven
There ain't no coal dust in the air

My children they go cold and hungry
My husband he is sick and tired
There ain't no food to cook for dinner
And there ain't no coal to make a fire

There ain't no tarpaper shacks in heaven
The Lord will be my Landlord there
The creeks are bright and clear in heaven
There ain't no coal dust in the air

The winter it is cold and lonesome
The snow drifts in beside the door
Behind the house that slag heap's burning
Like the fires of hell forevermore

There ain't no tarpaper shacks in heaven
The Lord will be my Landlord there
The creeks are bright and clear in heaven
There ain't no coal dust in the air

In the dark outside my window
I can see their carbides shine
From the graveyard the souls of miners
Walk with my husband to the mine

There ain't no tarpaper shacks in heaven
The Lord will be my Landlord there
The creeks are bright and clear in heaven
There ain't no coal dust in the air