Cold Gold in the Yukon

[Intro] [Low banjo pluckin’, harmonica moanin’, wind blowin’ like it’s got teeth] [Verse 1] Left Frisco in the spring o’ ninety-eight With a shovel, a mule, and a twist o’ fate Crossed the Chilkoot Pass with the devil on my back And a map scratched in whiskey on a tattered old sack [Verse 2] The snow bit hard, like a cuss from hell And the river froze solid where the Frenchman fell But we kept on marchin’, teeth grindin’ like coal All for a flicker of that cursed Klondike gold [Chorus] There’s cold gold in the Yukon, buried in ice And men trade their souls just to roll them dice But the mountains don’t care if you’re strong or bold— They’ll freeze your heart ‘fore you find that gold [Verse 3] Met a gal named Liza in a Dawson dive She was dancin’ with ghosts, barely half alive Said, “You dig for gold, but it don’t dig you— It’ll fill your hands, then it hollows you through” [Bridge] Watched a preacher hang from a black spruce tree For cheatin’ ten miners with a claim marked “B” Didn’t say a prayer, just lit up a smoke And the flame near froze before I took a toke [Final Chorus] Yeah, there’s cold gold in the Yukon, deep in the dirt Where the frost bites harder than a gun can hurt I came for fortune, found nothin’ but pain— Now I’m diggin’ my grave in the snow and the rain [Outro] [Banjo fades, wind howls, a crow caws in the distance. One last harmonica note hangs like breath in the air.]