Blue Diamond Mines - Kathy Mattea

I remember the ways in the bygone days

When we were in our prime

How us and John L. give the old man hell

Down in the Blue Diamond Mine

Well the whistle blowed and the rooster crowed

Two hours before daylight

When a man done his best and he earned his good rest

Made seventeen dollars a night

In the mines, in the mines

In the Blue Diamond Mines

I worked my life away

In the mines, in the mines

In the Blue Diamond Mines

Oh fall on your knees and pray

You old black gold, you’ve taken my lungs

And your dust has darkened my home

And now that we’re old, you’re turning your back

Where else can an old miner go?

Well it’s Algomer Block and it’s Big Leather Woods

And now it’s Blue Diamond too

Well the pits are all closed and it’s get another job

What else can an old miner do

In the mines, in the mines

In the Blue Diamond Mines

I worked my life away

In the mines, in the mines

In the Blue Diamond Mines

Oh fall on your knees and pray

John L. had a dream but it’s broken it seems

Mining has had it’s day

But they’re stripping off my mountain top

And they pay me eight dollars a day

And I get a little poke of welfare meal

A little poke of welfare flour

But I tell ya right now you won’t qualify

'Til you work for a quarter an hour

In the mines, in the mines

In the Blue Diamond Mines

I worked my life away

In the mines, in the mines

In the Blue Diamond Mines

Oh fall on your knees and pray