come, all you coalminers

wherever you may be

and listen to the story

that I relate to thee

my name is nothing extra

but the truth to you I tell

I am a coalminer

and I'm sure I wish you well



I was born in old Kentucky

in a coal camp, born and bred

I know about old beans

bulldog gravy and cornbread

I know how the miners work and slave

in the coalmines every day

for a dollar in the company store

for that is all they pay



mining is the most dangerous work

in our land today

plenty of dirty, slaving work

for very little pay

coalminers, won't you wake up

and open your eyes and see

what this dirty capitalist system

has done to you and me



dear miners, they will slave you

until you can't work no more

and what will you get for your laborbut a dollar in the company store

a tumbledown shack to live in

snow and rain pouring through the topand you have to pay the company rentand your payments will never stop



they take our very lifeblood

they take our children's lives

take fathers away from children

take husbands away from wivescoalminers, won't you organize

wherever you may be

and make this a land of freedom

for workers, like you and me



I am a coalminer

and I'm sure I wish you well

let's sink this capitalist system

to the darkest pits of hell