Coal Tattoo
Composer(s): Billy Edd Wheeler
Originally performed by: The Kingston Trio
Covered by various other artists



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