Travelin' on down that coal town road
Listen to my rubber tires whine
Goodbye to buckeye and white sycamore
I'm leavin' you behind

Oh, I've been a coal miner all my life
Layin' down track in a hole
Got a back like ironwood, bent by the wind
Blood veins as blue as the coal
Blood veins as blue as the coal

Well, somebody said, That's a strange tattoo
You have on the side of your head”
I said, That's a blue mark left by the coal
Little more and I'd a been dead”

Oh, I love the rumble and I love the dark
Lord, I love the cool of the slate
But it's going down that new road lookin' for a jo
Travelin' and lookin' I hate
Travelin' and lookin' I hate

Some day when I'm dead and gone
To heaven the land of my dreams
I won't have to worry 'bout losin' my jo
To bad times and big machines

Oh, I got no house Lord, I got no jo
Just got a worried soul
And a blue tattoo on the side of my head
Left by the number nine coal
Left by the number nine coal