You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive

In the deep dark hills of eastern Kentucky
 That's the place where I trace my bloodline
 And it's there I read on a hillside gravestone
 Saying: "You will never leave Harlan alive"
 Oh, my granddad's dad walked down
 Katahrins Mountain
 And he asked Tillie Helton to be his bride
 Said, won't you walk with me out of the mouth
 Of this holler
 Or we'll never leave Harlan alive
 Where the sun comes up about ten in the morning
 And the sun goes down about three in the day
 And you fill your cup with whatever bitter brew you're drinking
 And you spend your life just thinkin' of how to get away
 No one ever knew there was coal in them mountains
 'Til a man from the Northeast arrived
 Waving hundred dollar bills he said I'll pay ya for your minerals
 But he never left Harlan alive
 Granny soldout cheap and the move out west of Pineville
 To a farm where big Richland River winds
 I bet they danced them a jig, laughed and sang a new song
 Who said we'd never leave Harlan alive
 But the times got hard and tobacco wasn't selling
 And old granddad knew what he'd do to survive
 He went and dug for Harlan coal
 And sent the money back to granny
 But he never left Harlan alive
 Where the sun comes up about ten in the morning
 And the sun goes down about three in the day
 And you fill your cup with whatever bitter brew you're drinking
 And you spend your life digging coal from the bottom of your grave
 Where the sun comes up about ten in the morning
 And the sun goes down about three in the day
 And you fill your cup with whatever bitter brew you're drinking
 And you spend your life digging coal from the bottom of your grave
 In the deep dark hills of eastern Kentucky
 That's the place where I trace my bloodline
 And it's there I read on a hillside gravestone
 Saying: "You will never leave Harlan alive"