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.

• A Sailor's Life
• After Halloween
• Autopsy
• Ballad of Easy Rider
• Banks of The Nile
• Bird on a Wire
• Blow Away
• Blue Tattoo
• Blues Run The Game
• Bold Jack Donahue
• Book Song
• Box Full of Treasure
• Bring 'em Down
• Bruton Town
• By The Time It Gets Dark
• Cajun Woman
• Cold Feet
• Come All Ye
• Crazy Man Michael
• Dawn
• Dear Landlord
• Down Where The Drunkards Roll
• East Virginia
• Eastern Rain
• Eppy Moray
• Farewell, Farewell
• Forever Young
• Fotheringay
• Genesis Hall
• Geordie
• Georgia on My Mind
• Green Grow The Laurels
• Gypsy Davey
• Hearts
• Here in Silence
• I'll Keep It With Mine
• I'm Leaving
• If You Saw Thro' My Eyes
• In Memory
• Iron Lion
• It Ain't Me Babe
• Knockin' on Heavens Door
• Let It Go
• Let No Man Steal Your Thyme
• Lowlands of Holland
• Magic Lady
• Makes Me Think of You
• Man of Iron
• Matty Groves
• Million Dollar Bash
• Motherless Children
• Mr Lacey
• My Ramblin' Boy
• Never Ending
• Night-time Girl
• No Man's Land
• Nothing More
• Nottamun Town
• Now & Then
• On The Banks of The Condamine
• One More Chance
• Painted Ladies
• Peace in The End
• Percy's Song
• Pleasure Pain
• Polly on The Shore
• Possibly Parsons Green
• Reno, Nevada
• Restless
• Reynard The Fox
• Reynardine
• Rigs of The Time
• Ringing Down The Years
• Rising for The Moon
• Sir Patrick Spens
• Sloth
• Some Sweet Day
• Stranger to Himself
• Suzanne
• Take Away The Load
• Tale in Hard Time
• Tam Lin
• The Angels Took My Racehorse Away
• The Ballad of Ned Kelly
• The Battle of Evermore
• The Boatman
• The Deserter
• The Hexhamshire Lass
• The King & Queen of England
• The Leaves of Life
• The Plainsman
• The Pond & The Stream
• The Sea
• The Way I Feel
• Throwaway Street Puzzle
• Too Much of Nothing
• Twisted
• Two Weeks Last Summer
• What is True?
• White Dress
• Who Knows Where The Time Goes?
• Wild Mountain Thyme
• Winter Winds