Dark as a Dungeon

Dark as a Dungeon - Merle Travis

It's as dark as a dungeon

Way down in the mine

I never will forget one time

When I was on a little visit down

Home in ebenezer kentucky

I was a-talking to an old man

That had known me ever

Since the day I was born and

An old friend of the family

He says son you don't know how

Lucky you are to have a nice job

Like you've got and don't have

To dig out a living

From under these old hills and hollers

Like me and your pappy used to

When I asked him why he never had left

And tried some other kind of work he says

Now Sir you just won't do that

If ever you get this old

Coal dust in your blood

You're just gonna be a plain

Old coal miner as long as you live

He went on to say it's a habit

Sorta like chewing tobaccer

Come and listen you fellows

So young and so fine

And seek not your fortune

In the dark dreary mines

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 danger is double and

Pleasures are few

Where the rain never falls

And the sun never shines

It's dark as a dungeon

Way down in the mine

It's a many a man

I have seen in my day

Who lived just to labor

His whole life away

Like a fiend with his dope

And a drunkard his wine

A man will have lust for

The lure of the mines

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

Digging my bones

It's dark as a dungeon

And damp as the dew

Where danger is double

And pleasures are few

Where the rain never falls

And the sun never shines

It's dark as a dungeon way

Down in the mine