Come all you young fellows so young and so fine
And seek not your fortune way down in the mine
It will form like a habit and seep in your soul
Till the stream of your blood flows as black as the coal

(Chorus:)

It's dark as a dungeon and damp as the dew
The danger is doubled and the pleasures are few
Where the rain never falls and the sun never shines
It's dark as a dungeon way down in the mine

There's many a man I have seen in my day
Who lived just to labor his whole life away
Like the fiend with his dope and the drunkard his wine
A man can have lust for the lure of the mine

(Chorus)

Oh when I am dead and the ages shall roll
My body will blacken and turn into coal
Then I'll look from the door of my heavenly home
And pity the miner a-digging my bones

(Chorus)