Took my family away from my Carolina home
Had dreams about the West and started to roam
Six long months on a dust covered trail
They say heaven's at the end
But so far it's been hell
And there's fire on the mountain
Lightning in the air
Gold in them hills
And it's waiting for me
There
We were diggin' and siftin' from five to five
Sellin' everything we found just to stay alive
Gold flowed free like the whiskey in the bars
Sinnin' was the big thing lord
And Satan was the star
And there's fire on the mountain
Lightning in the air
Gold in them hills
And it's waiting for me there
Dance hall girls were the evening treat
Empty cartridges and blood lined
The gutters of the street
Men were shot down for the sake of fun
Or just to hear the noise of their forty-four guns
And there's fire on the mountain
Lightning in the air
Gold in them hills
And it's waiting for me there
Now my widow she weeps by my grave
Tears flow free for her man
She couldn't save
All for a useless and no good worthless claim
And there's fire on the mountain
Lightning in the air
Gold in them hills
And it's waiting for me there
Fire on the mountain
Lightning in the air
Gold in them hills
And it's waiting for me there