Coal

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My grandpa was a farmer, but you couldn’t make a living that way,
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But they needed men at the coal mine, so that’s where he spent his day.
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He worked at the face with the big machine as it tore into the seam
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And as it ripped the coal away, you could hear the big drum scream.
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And it chewed it up and it spit it out 
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And the air was thick with coal.
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And they worked long days to earn their pay
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At the bottom of a deep dark hole.
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At the bottom of a deep dark hole.

The big drum kept on turning ‘till it tossed a rock up high.
The course it flew was straight and true and it took my grandpa’s eye.
The company was through with him, but the union made them pay.
The pension let him read and farm and the one-eyed man’s ok.
But they chewed him up and they spit him out,
‘Cause the company’s got no soul.
But the contracts say that they’ve got to pay
And he left behind the coal.
And he left behind the coal.

My dad spent summers in the mine, ‘cause school’s worth paying for.
Got his degree, but then, you see, his country was at war.
Spent twenty years in service, too short for a man’s career,
But up or out, the rule’s about, and that’s why he’s back here.
They chewed him up and they spit him out,
But he’s got a father’s role.
Retirement pay won’t let him stay
So he went back to the coal.
So he went back to the coal.

They said, “Son, you’re an engineer – here’s an office with a door.”
And with his team, the big machines work better than before.
The company made millions from the patents that they’d earned.
They told him, “Son, your work is done, so now you’re getting burned.”
They chewed him up and they spit him out
For their hearts were black as coal.
He was reassigned from mine to mine
At the bottom of a deep dark hole.
At the bottom of a deep dark hole.

I’ve never been a miner, but coal runs down my line.
And down in southern Illinois, they’re closing down the mines.
We do not want their dirty coal brought up by dirty men.
And all they want’s an honest job to feed their kin again.
But we chewed them up and we spit them out
And we left them on the dole.
It’s a brand new day – they should go away
At the bottom of a deep dark hole.
At the bottom of a deep dark hole.

If folks had their way, they would go away
At the bottom of a six-foot hole.
At the bottom of a six-foot hole.