In the deep dark hells of eastern Kentucky
That's the place where I traced my bloodline
And it's there I read on a hillside gravestone
You will never leave Harlan alive

Well, my granddad's dad walked down
Katahrins Mountain
And he asked Tillie Hilton to be his bride
He 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 for your minerals
But he never left Harlan alive

Well Granny sold out cheap and they moved out west
To Pineland
To a farm where big Richmond 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 they got hard and tobacco wasn't selling
And ole 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 just thinkin' of how to get away

And 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 hells of eastern Kentucky
That's the place where I traced my bloodline
And it's there I read on a hillside gravestone
You will never leave Harlan alive