Dark as a dungeon
Come listen you fellows so young and fime Oh seek not your fortune in the dark dreary mine It will form as a habit and seep in your soul Till the stream of your blood is as black as the coal It's dark as a dungeon and damp as the dew Where the danger is double and the pleasures are few Where the rain never falls and the sun never shines It's dark as a dungeon waydown in the mines It's a-many a man I've known in my day Who lived just to labor his life away Like a friend with his dope and a drunkard his wine A man will have lust for the lure of the mine * Refrain The midnight, the morning, or the middle of the day It's the same to the miner who labors away Where the demons of the death often come by surprise One fall of the slate and youa7re buried alive * Refrain I hope when I'm gone and the ages shall roll My body will blacken and turn into coal Then I'll look from the door of my heavenly home And pity the miner a-digtgin' my bones * Refrain