My pappy said when I was seventeen
You're six feet tall and your face is clean
And it don't look right for a boy that old
To not make a living loading coal
Loading coal
Loading coal
I'm a double first cousin
To a dad blamed mole
Never get rich for to save my soul
And forty eleven years a loading coal
Loading coal
Ain't never got acquainted with a dollar bill
And I don't ever reckon that I ever will
A dollar ain't made for a fellar I'm told
That scoops up a living loading coal
Loading coal
Loading coal
I'm a double first cousin
To a dad blamed mole
Never get rich for to save my soul
And forty eleven years a loading coal
Loading coal
I cussed everything in the mining camp
From a shovel and my pick to my carbide lamp
But I know mighty well till I grow old
I'll still be a cussing but loading coal
Loading coal
Loading coal
I'm a double first cousin
To a dad blamed mole
Never get rich for to save my soul
And forty eleven years a loading coal
Loading coal
I know just as well as coal is black
One of these days the mines were strike
And I'll sit around starving till I'm finally told
There's a nickel more a ton for loading coal
Loading coal
Loading coal
I'm a double first cousin
To a dad blamed mole
Never get rich for to save my soul
And forty eleven years a loading coal
Loading coal
Loading coal
Loading coal