[Verse 1]
He drinks orange juice and vodka
In the basement while she's talking
To someone long distance for hours and hours on end
And as he’s slowly sippin', he thinks about his children
And the heart attacks that youngest daughter's always giving him
He ain’t smoked no marijuana since he got on with the railroad
And he's been on with the railroad for a long and lonesome while
But the day that he retires, he will smoke himself to China
He will leave behind his worries as he races through the sky

[Chorus]
The days are dark down in the holler
Waiting for the sun to shine
On the back you have been breaking
Trying to earn peace of mind

[Verse 2]
She sells Avon to her buddies and saves a little money
On the makeup she's been using to hide away the years
And she sits and watches TV, usually every evening
If there ain't some kind of ballgame that her daughter has to cheer
She sneaks menthols in the morning while her family's still snoring
And as she burns the Eggos, she looks back at her life
That heart she broke in high school, he's singing on the Opry
She wonders what the hell that she was thinking at the time
[Chorus]
The days are dark down in the holler
Waiting for the sun to shine
On the back you have been breaking
Trying to earn peace of mind

[Verse 3]
Their youngest daughter Stella, she's running with this fella
That he cannot stand the thought of, that he surely does despise
He's told her he best never see the two of them together
But it’s hard to keep an eye on her
When you’re working all the time
There are things he needs to tend to
And the bills the bank keeps sendin'
Lord, the zeros on the end keep pushing further to the right
Like a freight train hauling sorrow and moving ever onward
Through the tunnel of forever to the never ending light