Kathy Mattea Coal Tattoo Lyrics

Coal Tattoo Lyrics

Travelin' on down that coal town road

Listen to my rubber tires whine

Goodbye to buckeye and white sycamore

I'm leavin' you behind



Oh, I've been a coal miner all my life

Layin' down track in a hole

Got a back like ironwood, bent by the wind

Blood veins as blue as the coal

Blood veins as blue as the coal



Well, somebody said, “That's a strange tattoo

You have on the side of your head�

I said, “That's a blue mark left by the coal

Little more and I'd a been dead�



Oh, I love the rumble and I love the dark

Lord, I love the cool of the slate

But it's going down that new road lookin' for a job

Travelin' and lookin' I hate

Travelin' and lookin' I hate



Some day when I'm dead and gone

To heaven the land of my dreams

I won't have to worry 'bout losin' my job

To bad times and big machines



Oh, I got no house Lord, I got no job

Just got a worried soul

And a blue tattoo on the side of my head

Left by the number nine coal

Left by the number nine coal