(Verse 1) The mist is crawlin’ up the holler side Like a pale shroud where the daylight died The hemlock shivers in the mountain breeze And a lonesome wind moans through the trees. (Chorus) Oh, the ridge is high and the valley’s deep And the secrets of the earth we keep Lay me down where the ironweeds grow Where the cold, dark waters of the Clinch River flow. (Verse 2) I heard the whistle of the midnight train Echoing like a ghost through the fallin’ rain It’s carryin’ my kin to a distant shore And they won't be walkin' these hills no more. (Chorus) Oh, the ridge is high and the valley’s deep And the secrets of the earth we keep Lay me down where the ironweeds grow Where the cold, dark waters of the Clinch River flow. (Bridge) The coal mine’s mouth is a hungry maw It took my brother, it took my pa And the mountain don’t care for the tears we shed It only asks for the blood of the dead. (Verse 3) So wrap me in a quilt of faded blue When my days on this rocky soil are through And sing me a song that’s old and wild Like a mother hushin’ her weary child. (Chorus) Oh, the ridge is high and the valley’s deep And the secrets of the earth we keep Lay me down where the ironweeds grow Where the cold, dark waters of the Clinch River flow. (Outro) Flow on, flow on... To the end of the world... Flow on...
