COALMINERS

Come all you coalminers Wherever you may be Listen to the story That I relate to thee A name is nothing extra But the truth to you I tell I am a coalminer And I'm sure I wish you well I was born in old Kentucky In a coal camp born and bread I know about old beans Bulldog gravy and cornbread I know how the miners work and slave In the coalmines every day For a dollar in the company store For that is all they pay Mining is the most dangerous work In our land today With plenty of dirty slaving work And very little pay Coalminers, won't you wake up And open your eyes and see What this dirty capitalist system Has done to you and me Dear miners, they will slave you Till you can't work no more And what will you get for your labor But a dollar in the company store A tumbledown shack to live in Snow and rain pouring through the top You have to pay the company rent And your payments never stop They take our very lifeblood They take our children's lives Take fathers away from children Take husbands away from wives Coalminers, won't you organize Wherever you may be And make this a land of freedom For workers like you and me I am a coalminer And I'm sure I wish you well Let's sink this capitalist system To the darkest pits of hell