Travelin' down that coaltown road, Listen to my rubber tires 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 Blood 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'd 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 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'm dead and gone To heaven, the land of my dreams, I won't have to worry on losin' my job To bad times 'n 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.