Travelin' down that coaltown road,

Listen to my rubber tires whine;

Goodbye to buckeye and white sycamore,

I'm leavin' you behind.

I've been a coal miner all my life

Layin' down track in the hole,

Got a back like an ironwood bent by the wind

Blood veins as black as the coal.



Somebody said "that's a strange tattoo

You have on the side of your head."

I said "that's a mark of number nine coal

A little more and i'd be dead"

But i love the rumble and i love the dark

I love the cool of the slate.

But it's travelin' down this new road lookin' for a job

It's the travelin' and lookin' i hate.



I've stood for the union, i walked in the line,

I fought against the company;

I stood for the u. m. w. of a.

Now who's gonna stand for me?

Cause i got no job, i got no pay,

I just got a worried soul;

And this blue tattoo on the side of my head

Left by the number nine coal.



Someday when i'm dead and gone

To heaven, the land of my dreams,

I won't have to worry on losin' my job

To bad times 'n big machines.

But i got no job and i got no pay,

I just got a worried soul;

And this blue tattoo on the side of my head

Left by that number nine coal,

Left by that number nine coal.