Coal

God made coal for the men who sold their lives to West Van Lear

And you keep on digging 'til you get down there

Where it's darker than your darkest fears

And that woman in the kitchen

She keeps on cookin', but she ain't had meat in years

Just live off bread, live off hope, and a pool of a million tears

Now lemme tell you something about the gospel

And make sure that you mark it down

When God spoke out, "Let there be light"

He put the first of us in the ground

And we'll keep on digging 'til the coming of the Lord Gabriel's trumpet sounds

'Cause if you ain't mining for the company, boy

There ain't much in this town

We coulda made something of ourselves out there

If we'd listened to the folks that knew

That coal is gonna bury you

Now it's darker than a dungeon

And it's deeper than a well

So sometimes, I imagine that I'm getting pretty close to Hell

And in my darkest hour, I cry out to the Lord

He says, "Keep on a-mining, boy, 'cause that's why you were born"

We coulda made something of ourselves out there

If we'd listened to the folks that knew

That coal is gonna bury you