Released: December 7, 2018
Songwriter: Merle Travis
Producer: John Mellencamp
[Verse 1]
Come all you young fellers, so young and so fine
And seek not your fortune in a dark dreary mine
It'll form like a habit and seep to your soul
'Til the stream of your blood flows black as the coal
[Chorus]
It's dark as the dungeons and damp as the dew
Where the dangers are double and the pleasures are few
Where the rain never falls, and the sun never shines
It's dark as the dungeons way down in the mines
[Verse 2]
There's many a man I have 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 mine
[Chorus]
It's dark as the dungeon and damp as the dew
Where the dangers are double and the pleasures are few
Where the rain never falls, and the sun never shines
It's dark as the dungeons way down in the mines
[Verse 3]
Come midnight or morning, or middle of day
It's the same to the miner who labors away
For the demons of death often come by surprise
One fall of the slate, and you're buried alive
[Chorus]
For it's dark as the dungeon and damp as the dew
Where the dangers are double and the pleasures are few
Where the rain never falls the sun never shines
It's dark as the dungeons way down in the mines
[Verse 4]
I hope when I'm dead and the ages shall roll
My body will blacken and turn into coal
I'll look from the door of my heavenly home
And pity the miners who're digging my bones
[Chorus]
It's dark as the dungeons and damp as the dew
Where the dangers are double and the pleasures are few
And the rain never falls, and the sun never shines
As dark as the dungeons way down in the mines
Come all you young fellers, so young and so fine
And seek not your fortune in a dark dreary mine
It'll form like a habit and seep to your soul
'Til the stream of your blood flows black as the coal
[Chorus]
It's dark as the dungeons and damp as the dew
Where the dangers are double and the pleasures are few
Where the rain never falls, and the sun never shines
It's dark as the dungeons way down in the mines
[Verse 2]
There's many a man I have 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 mine
[Chorus]
It's dark as the dungeon and damp as the dew
Where the dangers are double and the pleasures are few
Where the rain never falls, and the sun never shines
It's dark as the dungeons way down in the mines
[Verse 3]
Come midnight or morning, or middle of day
It's the same to the miner who labors away
For the demons of death often come by surprise
One fall of the slate, and you're buried alive
[Chorus]
For it's dark as the dungeon and damp as the dew
Where the dangers are double and the pleasures are few
Where the rain never falls the sun never shines
It's dark as the dungeons way down in the mines
[Verse 4]
I hope when I'm dead and the ages shall roll
My body will blacken and turn into coal
I'll look from the door of my heavenly home
And pity the miners who're digging my bones
[Chorus]
It's dark as the dungeons and damp as the dew
Where the dangers are double and the pleasures are few
And the rain never falls, and the sun never shines
As dark as the dungeons way down in the mines
more tracks from the album
From the album
- Other People’s Stuff (2018)
John Mellencamp popular songs
- Jack & Diane
- Pink Houses
- Hurts So Good
- Small Town
- Check It Out
- Authority Song
- Rain on the Scarecrow
- I Need a Lover
- Cherry Bomb
- For the Children
- Farewell Angelina
- R. Gang
- To M.G. (Wherever She May Be)
- Worn Out Nervous Condition
- Yours Forever
- No One Cares About Me
- Forgiveness
- L.U.V.
- This May Not Be the End of the World
- County Fair
- Goodnight
- Young Without Lovers
- Another Sunny Day 12/25
- Serious Business