# **Under the Mountain** **Verse 1** Before the sun had touched the ridge, He'd lace his boots beside the bed, Kiss his wife and sleeping child, Then follow where his father led. Down past the creek, past sycamore, Where morning fog lay cold and still, He traded daylight for the dark Beneath an Appalachian hill. **Chorus** Down, down under the mountain, Where the black dust fills your lungs, Where a man grows old at thirty-five And dies before he's done. But the coal keeps rolling northward, And the company takes its fill, While another lamp goes underground Beneath an Appalachian hill. **Verse 2** His granddad cut that same black seam, With hammer, sweat and carbide flame, His daddy left there half a lung And hardly spoke about the pain. They never owned the land they worked, Just a porch, a truck, a windowsill, And every generation paid Its debt beneath that hill. **Chorus** Down, down under the mountain, Where the black dust fills your lungs, Where a man grows old at thirty-five And dies before he's done. But the coal keeps rolling northward, And the company takes its fill, While another lamp goes underground Beneath an Appalachian hill. **Verse 3** One winter morning came the sound That every mining family knows, A siren crying through the hollow, Men came running through the snow. There'd been a fall on Number Nine, The rescue trucks climbed past the mill, And twelve men waited for the light Somewhere beneath the hill. **Bridge** His wife stood watching by the gate, Holding tight his old work coat, The preacher prayed, the children cried, Nobody dared give up their hope. Then close to dawn a miner came, His face as pale as winter still— He took his helmet in his hands And every heart knew what he'd tell. **Verse 4** Now there's a stone above the creek With thirteen names cut deep and plain, Wildflowers grow around the fence, And coal trains whistle through the rain. His boy grew up and left that town, Swore he'd never work that drill, But some nights dreams his father's lamp Is burning underneath the hill. **Final Chorus** Down, down under the mountain, Where the black dust turns to scars, Where men went searching for a living Far away from sun and stars. And the coal may all be taken, And the old mines may grow still, But the names of those who gave their lives Still echo through the hills. **Outro** When evening falls across the ridge And whip-poor-wills begin to call, Some say you can see their lanterns Like little stars beneath it all. And the river keeps on running, And the mountain's standing still— Keeping every miner's story Underneath the hill.
