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Coal Tattoo Lyrics

Travelin' down that coaltown road,
Listen to those rubber tires whine;
Goodbye to Buckeye and White Sycamore
I'm leavin' you behind.
I've been a coal man all my life
Layin' down track in the hole,
Got a back like an ironwood bent by the wind
Blood veins blue as the coal.
Somebody said "That's a strange tattoo
You have on the side of your head."
I said "That's a blue print, left by the coal
Just a little more and I'd be dead"
And I love the rumble and I love the dark
I love the cool of the slate.
But it's on down the new road lookin' for a job
It's the travelin' and lookin' I hate.

I've stood for the union, walkin' the line,
Fought against the company;
Stood for the U. M. W. of A.
Now who's gonna stand for me?
I got no house and I got no pay,
Just got a worried soul;
And this blue tattoo on the side of my head
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 losin' my job
To bad times 'n big machines.
I ain't gonna pay my money away
For pensions and hospital plans.
I'm gonna pick coal where the blue heavens roll
And sing with the angel bands.
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The Kingston Trio - 1963
Judy Collins - 1964
Jim Croce - 1966
Shawn Phillips - 1966
Billy Edd Wheeler - 1967
Hazel d***ens - 1987
Also recorded by: The Fenians; Tom Juravich; Red Molly;
Scuffletown; Laurie MacAllister: .......... and others.
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A Few Old Memories (1987)
A Few Old Memories Beyond the River Bend Busted Old and In the Way It's Hard to Tell the Singer from the Song Don't Bother to Cry Hills of Home Pretty Bird Only the Lonely Coal Tattoo Little Lenaldo Old Calloused Hands Scars from an Old Love You'll Get No More of Me Mama's Hand Working Girl Blues West Virginia, My Home Play Us a Waltz