Lawrence Jones

well the night is thick as silence
 you can't cut it with a knife
 a man lies in the hospital
 drainin' out his life
 the trucks are on the back road
 in the dark their headlights shine
 'cause there's one man dead
 on that harlan county line
 oh anger, like poison
 is eatin' at your soul
 your thoughts are loud as gunfire
 your face is hard as coal
 bitterness like buckshot
 explodes inside your mind
 and there's one man dead
 on that harlan county line
 oh a miner's life is fragile
 it can shatter just like ice
 but those who bear the struggle
 have always paid the price
 there's blood upon the contract
 like vinegar in wine
 and there's one man dead
 on that harlan county line
 from the river bridge at highsplint
 to the brookside railroad track
 you can feel a long strength building
 that can never be turned back
 the dead go forward with us
 not one is left behind
 'cause there's one man dead
 on that harlan county line
 well the night is cold as iron
 you can feel it in your bones
 it settles like a shroud upon
 the grave of lawrence jones
 the graveyard shift is walkin'
 from the bathhouse into the mine
 and there's one man dead
 on that harlan county line
 one man dead
 on that harlan county line
 one miner dead on that harlan county line