what do you see in the dark?

[[ Mine work, mine family.  ]]

daddy comes up 

from working the mine

black as sin

mama goes to him 

and strips him and 

scours his skin

come on up, daddy, 

and we can have breakfast

leave off that dirty old work

come and cheer mama up 

tell us a story

what do you see in the dark,

my daddy?

what do you see in the dark?

daddy works nights 

and comes out of the ground  

with the sun

mama feeds daddy

then says come to bed,

your day's done

come on up, daddy, 

and we can have breakfast

leave off that dirty old work

come and cheer mama up 

tell us a story

what do you see in the dark,

my daddy?

what do you see in the dark?

Kentucky Air

[v1]

Six days a week,

ten hours a day,

under the State of Kentucky

earning my pay.

[v2]

Half a mile under,

you're forced to crawl;

first you feel new muscles growing,

then nothing at all.

[stuff in the middle]

The deeper

I go I am

the closer

to hell I am

the closer

to hell I am

the farther

from you I am

the farther

from you

[v3]

Stand in this cage

and fall through the black.

Ride all the way to the bottom

and hope I come back.

[v4]

Some men might mind,

but I don't care

long as I know you will wait in

this Kentucky air.

[[ The first couple of stanzas are the typical coal miner's life, according to an interview with a miner. Six days a week, 10-hour shifts, hunched, different muscles, etc.

The rest is a story. He loves her and the cool air.

]]