Coal Minin' Man

Ricky Skaggs

Daylight of dark

In rain or shine

It don't much matter

Down in the mine

Where the tunnel's deep

Lord, the air gets thin

That's the way of life

For the minin' man



His lungs are weak

His back is gone

His sixty years

Are plainly shown

Lived half his life

Down in the ground

A cold steel hammer

Rings a mournful sound



Daylight of dark

In rain or shine

It don't much matter

Down in the mine

Where the tunnel's deep

Lord, the air gets thin

That's the way of life

For the minin' man



I'll tell you, Son

He said to me

There's just two things

I pray to see

That the day my Savior

Calls me home

And to see my son

Stop minin' coal



Oh daddy dear

I'll tell you true

There's nothing else

For me to do

But to make my livin'

Underneath this land

And live and die

A coal minin' man



Daylight of dark

In rain or shine

It don't much matter

Down in the mine

Where the tunnel's deep

Lord, the air gets thin

That's the way of life

For the minin' man



I'll make my livin'

Underneath this land

And die like you

A coal minin' man