(Merle Travis)

Come and listen you fellows
So young and do fine
And seek not your fortune
In the dark, dreary mines

It will form as a habit
Seep in your soul
'Til the blood in your veins
Runs as black as the coal

There's many a man
That I've known in my day
Who lived just to labor
His whole life away

Like a fiend with his dope
And a drunkard his wine
A man will have lust for
The lure of the mine

It's dark as a dungeon
Damp as the dew
The danger is double
And the pleasures are few

Where the rain never falls
Where the sun never shines
It's dark as a dungeon
Way down in the mine

I hope when I'm gone
And the ages shall roll
My body will blacken
And turn into coal

Then I'll look out the door
Of my heavenly home
And I'll pity the miners
A-diggin' my bones

It's dark as a dungeon
Damp as the dew
The danger is double
And the pleasures are few

Where the rain never falls
Where the sun never shines
It's dark as a dungeon
Way down in the mine

Where the rain never falls
Where the sun never shines
It's dark as a dungeon
Way down in the mine