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.