Travelin' down that coal town road
Listenin' to my steel wheels whine;
Goodbye to buckeye and white sycamore
I'm leavin' you behind
I've been a coal man all my life
Layin' down tracks in the hole
Got a back like an ironwood
Bent by the wind
Blood veins blue as the coal
Blood veins blue as the coal

Somebody said "That's a strange tattoo
You have on the side of your head"
I said "That's the mark of the number nine coal
A little more and I'd be dead"
Still I love the rumble and I love the dark
I love the cool of the slate
But it's on down the new road lookin' for a job
It's travelin' and runnin' I hate
It's travelin' and runnin' I hate

Someday when I die and to Heaven I go
To Heaven the land of my dreams
I won't have to worry about losin' my job
To bad times and big machines
Still I've got no job and I've got no pay
Just got a worried soul
And this blue tattoo on the side of my head
Left by the number nine coal
Left by the number nine coal
Left by the number nine coal