Coal Tattoo

(album: Ashes & Dust - 2015)

Travelling down this coal town road
Listening to my rubber tires whine
Good-bye to buckeye and white sycamore
I'm leaving you behind
I've been a coal man all my life
Laying down track in the hole
Got a back like an ironwood,
Warped by the wind,
Blood veins as blue as the coal
Blood veins as blue as the coal

Somebody said "That's a strange tattoo
You have on the side of your head"
I said "That's the blueprint left by the coal
A little more and I'd be dead"
Well, I love the rumble and I love the dark
I love the cool of the slate
But this travelling around, looking for a job
Travelling and looking I hate
Travelling and looking I hate

I stood in line for the union
Fought against the company
Stood for the U.M.W.A.
Now who's gonna stand by me?
I got no job and I got no pay
I just got a weary soul
And this blue tattoo on the side of my face
Left by the number nine coal
Left by the number nine coal

Someday, when I'm dead and gone
To heaven, the land of my dreams
I won't have to worry on losing my job
To hard times and big machines
And I ain't gonna pay my money away
On dues and hospital plans
I'm gonna pick coal, where the blue heaven's roll
And sign with the angel band
Sing with the angel band...