One For The MIners

This song was written by Merle Travis in 1947. Reforms and union benefits had been rolled back by the demands for wartime production.

We are now experiencing the first increase in mining accidents since the 1920's. The Mine Bureau is headed by a coal industry insider, who as a mine operator had a dismal safety record. He is another one of Bush's recess appointments.

The men in Utah will die down there, if they are not dead already. Rescue digging has been suspended after the deaths of three of the miners digging to find their brothers.

Dark As A Dungeon
-Merle Travis

Come all you young fellows
So fair and so fine
Seek not your fortune
In the dark dreary mine

It will form as a habit
It will seep to your soul
'Till the blood in your veins
Runs as black as the coal

CHORUS
And it's dark as a dungeon
Damp as the dew
The dangers are many
The pleasures are few
Where the rain never falls
Where the sun never shines
It's dark as a dungeon
Way down in the mines

There's been many a man
That I've known in my day
Who lived but to labor
His whole life away
Like a fiend with his dope
Like a drunk with his wine
A man will get lust
For the lure of the mine

CHORUS

I hope when I die
As the ages do roll
My body will blacken
And turn into coal
I will look through the door
Of my heavenly home
And I'll pity the miners
A'digging my bones

Chorus

3B's