In the deep dark hills of eastern Kentucky That's the place where I traced my bloodline And it's there I read on a hillside gravestone You will never leave Harlan alive
Well my granddad's dad walked down Katahrins Mountain And he asked Tillie Hilton to be his bride He Said won't you walk with me out of the mouth of this holler Or we'll never leave Harlan alive
Where the sun comes up about ten in the morning And the sun goes down about three in the day And you fill your cup with whatever bitter brew you're drinking And you spend your life just thinkin' of how to get away
No one ever knew there was coal in them mountains Till a man from the Northeast arrived Waving hundred dollar bills he said I'll pay for your minerals But he never left Harlan alive
Well Granny sold out cheap and they moved out west to Pineville To a farm where big Richmond River winds I bet they danced them a jig and laughed and sang a new song Who said we'd never leave Harlan alive
But the times they got hard and tobacco wasn't selling Ole granddad knew what he'd do to survive He went and dug for Harlan coal and sent the money back to granny But he never left Harlan alive
And the sun comes up about ten in the morning And the sun goes down about three in the day And you fill your cup with whatever bitter brew you're drinking And you spend your life digging coal from the bottom of your grave