[Verse 1]
Travelling on down that coal town road
Listen to my rubber tires whine
Goodbye to buckeye and white sycamore
I'm leaving you behind

[Chorus]
Oh I've been a coal miner all my life
Laying down track in a hole
Got a back like ironwood, bent like the wind
Blood veins as blue as the coal
Blood veins as blue as the coal

[Verse 2]
Well somebody said, that's a strange tattoo
You have on the side of your head
I said, that's a blue mark left by the coal
Little more and I'd a been dead

[Chorus]
Oh I love the rumble and I love the dark
Lord I love the cool of the slate
But it's going down that new road looking for a job
Travelling and looking I hate
Travelling and looking I hate
[Verse 3]
Some day when I'm dead and gone
To Heaven the land of my dreams
I won't have to worry 'bout losing my job
To bad times and big machines

[Chorus]
Oh I got no house Lord, I got no job
Just a worried soul
And a blue tattoo on the side of my head
Left by the number nine coal
Left by the number nine coal