COAL TATTOO
(Billy Edd Wheeler)

The Kingston Trio - 1963
Judy Collins - 1964
Jim Croce - 1966
Shawn Phillips - 1966
Billy Edd Wheeler - 1967
Hazel Dickens - 1987

Also recorded by: The Fenians; Tom Juravich; Red Molly; 
Scuffletown; Laurie MacAllister: .......... and others.


Travelin' down that coaltown road,
Listen to those rubber tires whine;
Goodbye to Buckeye and White Sycamore
I'm leavin' you behind.
I've been a coal man all my life 
Layin' down track in the hole,
Got a back like an ironwood bent by the wind 
Blood veins blue as the coal. 

Somebody said "That's a strange tattoo 
You have on the side of your head."
I said "That's a blue print, left by the coal 
Just a little more and I'd be dead"
And I love the rumble and I love the dark 
I love the cool of the slate.
But it's on down the new road lookin' for a job 
It's the travelin' and lookin' I hate. 

I've stood for the union, walkin' the line,
Fought against the company;
Stood for the U. M. W. of A.
Now who's gonna stand for me?
I got no house and I got no pay,
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.
I ain't gonna pay my money away 
For pensions and hospital plans.
I'm gonna pick coal where the blue heavens roll 
And sing with the angel bands.







 





(Contributed by  - April 2007)