Travelin' down that coaltown road, Listen to my rubber tires whine; Goodbye to buckeye and white sycamore, I'm leavin' you behind. I've been a coal miner all my life Layin' down track in the hole, Got a back like an ironwood bent by the wind Blood veins as black as the coal. Somebody said "that's a strange tattoo You have on the side of your head." I said "that's a mark of number nine coal A little more and i'd be dead" But i love the rumble and i love the dark I love the cool of the slate. But it's travelin' down this new road lookin' for a job It's the travelin' and lookin' i hate. I've stood for the union, i walked in the line, I fought against the company; I stood for the u. m. w. of a. Now who's gonna stand for me? Cause i got no job, i got no pay, I 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. But i got no job and i got no pay, I just got a worried soul; And this blue tattoo on the side of my head Left by that number nine coal, Left by that number nine coal.