[00:10.81].
[00:11.99]Here in Harlan County, the choices are few
[00:19.42]To keep food on the table and the babies in shoes
[00:27.00]You can grow marijuana way back in the pines
[00:34.92]Or work for the man down in the mine
[00:41.53].
[00:45.70]You never forget your first day in the hole
[00:53.04]There's a pit in your stomach and your mouth's full of coal
[01:00.75]There's no turning back once you make up your mind
[01:08.23]As the cart rattles on down in the mine
[01:14.28].
[01:17.59]Way down in the mine, your tears turn to mud
[01:29.66]And you can't catch your breath for the dust in your lungs
[01:42.63]Loading hillbilly gold where the sun never shines
[01:54.75]Twelve hours a day, diggin' your grave
[02:01.14]Way down in the mine
[02:04.74].
[02:08.80]Well the old timers talk but you just don't believe
[02:16.50]It can all go to hell at two thousand feet
[02:24.07]Life sways in the balance of nature and time
[02:31.70]And fate has no mercy down in the mine
[02:37.38].
[03:07.74]The news spreads like fire and burned through those hills
[03:14.25]Hopes were held high but five men got killed
[03:21.87]On the wings of canaries, your soul surely flies
[03:30.25]While your bones spend eternity down in the mine
[03:36.26].
[03:40.08]Way down in the mine, your tears turn to mud
[03:52.40]And you can't catch your breath for the dust in your lungs
[04:04.87]Loading hillbilly gold where the sun never shines
[04:17.24]Twelve hours a day, diggin' your grave
[04:23.50]Way down in the mine
[04:26.25].
[04:31.18]So take a flask from your crib case and a pull of moonshine
[04:41.77]And say a prayer for them boys down in the mine
[04:49.26].