Kathy Mattea 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 â€~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