Dark As A Dungeon

It's as a dark as a dungeon way down in the mines I never will forget one time when I was on a little visit Down home in Ebenezer, Kentucky I was talking to an old man That had known me ever since the day I was born And an old friend of the family He says, "Son, you don't know how lucky you are To have a nice job like you've got And don't have to dig out a living From under these old hills and hollers Like me and your Pappy used to" When I asked him why he never had left And tried some other kind of work He says, "No sir, you just won't do that If ever you get this old coal dust in your blood You're just gonna be a plain old coal miner as long as you live" He went on to say it's a habit Sort of like chewin' tobacco Come and listen you fellers, so young and so fine And seek not your fortune in the dark dreary mines It will form as a habit and seep in your soul 'Til the stream of your blood is as black as the coal It's dark as a dungeon and damp as the dew Where danger is double and pleasures are few Where the rain never falls and the sun never shines It's dark as a dungeon way down in the mines It's a-many a-man I've seen in my day Who live just to labor his whole life away Like a fiend with his dope and a drunkard his wine A man will have lust for the lure of the mines I hope when I'm gone and the ages shall roll My body will blacken and turn into coal Then I'll look from the door of my heavenly home And pity the miner a-diggin' my bones Where it's dark as a dungeon and damp as the dew Where the danger is double and the pleasures are few Where the rain never falls and the sun never shines It's dark as a dungeon way down in the mines