Travelin down that coaltown road,
Listen to my rubber tires whine;
Goodbye to buckeye and white sycamore,
Im leavin you behind.
Ive been a coal miner all my life
Layin down track in the hole,
Got a back like an ironwood bent by the wind
Blood veins as black as the coal.
Somebody said "thats a strange tattoo
You have on the side of your head."
I said "thats a mark of number nine coal
A little more and Id be dead"
But I love the rumble and I love the dark
I love the cool of the slate.
But its travelin down this new road lookin for a job
Its the travelin and lookin I hate.
Ive stood for the union, I walked in the line,
I fought against the company;
I stood for the u. m. w. of a.
Now whos gonna stand for me?
Cause I got no job, I got no pay,
I just got a worried soul;
And this blue tattoo on the side of my head
Left by the number nine coal.
Someday when Im dead and gone
To heaven, the land of my dreams,
I wont have to worry on losin my job
To bad times n big machines.
But I got no job and I got no pay,
I just got a worried soul;
And this blue tattoo on the side of my head
Left by that number nine coal,
Left by that number nine coal.
