the mountain

i was born on this mountain a long long time ago, before they knocked down the timber and stripped mined all the coal, when you rose up in the morning before it was light, to go down in that dark hole and come back up at night, i was born on this mountain, this mountain's my home, she holds me and she keeps me from a worry and a woe, well they took everything she gave, she gave it now she's gone, but i'll die on this mountain, this mountain's my home, i was young on this mountain but now i am old, and i knew every holler, every cool swimmin' hole, til a one night i lay down and i woke up to find, that my childhood was over i went back down in the mine, there's a hole in this mountain it's dark and it's deep, and god only knows all the secrets that it keeps, there's a chill in the air only miners can feel, there're ghosts in the tunnels that the company sealed