Jean Ritchie - Blue Diamond Mines lyrics

[Instrumental] [Verse 1] I remember the ways in the bygone days When we were in our prime How us and John L. give the old man hell Down in the Blue Diamond Mine [Verse 2] Well the whistle blowed and the rooster crowed Two hours before daylight When a man done his best and he earned his good rest Made seventeen dollars a night [Chorus] In the mines, in the mines In the Blue Diamond Mines I worked my life away In the mines, in the mines In the Blue Diamond Mines Oh fall on your knees and pray [Instrumental Break] [Verse 3] You old black gold, you've taken my lungs And your dust has darkened my home And now that we're old, you're turning your back Where else can an old miner go? [Verse 4] Well it's Algomer Block and it's Big Leather Woods And now it's Blue Diamond too Well the pits are all closed and it's get another job What else can an old miner do [Chorus] In the mines, in the mines In the Blue Diamond Mines I worked my life away In the mines, in the mines In the Blue Diamond Mines Oh fall on your knees and pray [Instrumental Break] [Verse 5] John L. had a dream but it's broken it seems Mining has had it's day But they're stripping off my mountain top And they pay me eight dollars a day [Verse 6] And I get a little poke of welfare meal A little poke of welfare flour But I tell ya right now you won't qualify 'Til you work for a quarter an hour [Chorus] In the mines, in the mines In the Blue Diamond Mines I worked my life away In the mines, in the mines In the Blue Diamond Mines Oh fall on your knees and pray