Come all you young fellows, so young and so fine,
and seek not your fortune in a dark, dreary mine
It'll form as a habit and seep in your soul
'til the stream of your blood runs as black as the coal

(Chorus:)

Where it's dark as a dungeon and damp as the dew
Where the danger is double 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 mines

(Chorus)

Well, there's many a man I have 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

(Chorus)

Well, I hope when I die 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-diggin' my bones

(Chorus