took my fam'ly 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



chorus:

and there's fire on the mountain

lightning in the air

gold in them hills and it's waitin' for me there



We were diggin and siftin from 5 to 5

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 his star



and there's fire on the mountain

lightning in the air

gold in them hills and it's waitin' for me there



dance hall girls were the evenin' 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 sound of their forty four guns



and there's fire on the mountain

lightning in the air

gold in them hills and it's waitin' for me there



Now my widow she weeps by my grave

tears flow free for here man she couldn't save

shot down in cold blood by a gun that carried fame

all for a useless and no good worhtless claim



and there's fire on the mountain

lightning in the air

gold in them hills and it's waitin' for me there