[Intro]
As the cage dropped suddenly into darkness
The working morning had begun

[Verse 1]
Step in and see how for the last quarter of a century your coal was won
And how it is still won, twenty-four hours 'round the clock
You're in a two hundred yard long coal face now
Temperature often reached eighty degrees
It's three feet, six inches high from floor to roof

[Verse 2]
None knew when the foul air underground might not cause a disastrous explosion
Or a landslide might at any moment bring down the roof and walls of the tunnel

[Instrumental Break]

[Bridge]
The people of Britain are building
Drilling out from their native rock
The foundations of the future

[Instrumental Break]

[Outro]
To coal we must now turn again
For all the strength that we shall need
In the years to come