Coal Tattoo
Billy Edd Wheeler Writer Kathy Mattea
Travelin’ on down the coal town road
Well somebody said that’s a strange tattoo
Someday when I’m dead and gone
Listenin’ to my rubber tires whine
You have on the side of your head
To heaven the land of my dreams
Goodbye to Buckeye, White Sycamore
I said, that’s a blue mark left by the coal
I won’t have to worry about losing my job
I leaving you behind
Little more and I’d been dead.
To bad time and big machines
Oh, I’ve been a coal miner all my life
I love the rumble, I love the dark
Oh! I got no house Lord I got no job
Laying down track in a hole
Lord, I love the cool of the slate
Just got a worried soul
Got a back like ironwood, bent by the wind
But it’s going down that new road lookin’ for a job
And a blue tattoo on the side of my head
Blood veins as blue as the coal
Travelin’ and lookin’ I hate
Left by that number 9 coal
Blood veins as blue as the coal
Travelin’ and lookin’ I hate
Left by that number 9 coal
Left by that number 9 coal