Travelin' down that coaltown road Listen to my rubber tyres whine Goodbye to buckeye and white sycamore I'm leavin' you behind I've been a coal miner all my life Layin' down track in the hole Got a back like an ironwood bent by the wind Blue veins as black as the coal Somebody said that's a strange tattoo You have on the side of your head I said that's a mark of number nine coal A little more and I'll be dead But I love the rumble and I love the dark I love the cool of the slate But it's travelin' down this new road lookin' for a job It's the travelin' and lookin' I hate I've stood for the union, I walked in the line I fought against the company I've stood for the U, M, W of A Now who's gonna stand for me? 'Cause I got no job, I got no pay I just got a worried soul And this blue tattoo on the side of my head Left by the number nine coal Someday when I die and go To Heaven, the land of my dreams I won't have to worry about losin' my job To bad times and big machines But I got no job and I got no pay I just got a worried soul And this blue tattoo on the side of my head Left by that number nine coal Left by that number nine coal