He bid farewell to Canaan Valley
Placed a flower on his daddy's grave
For him and 27 others
Trapped below the black soot and clay
His name his Charlie Roberts
And he come from the miner's stone
He ain't much for you to look at
Ain't long since he left home
Rolled his pan in Nevada City
Missed the fever of '49

Chorus:
But there in Mogollon
The silver sings a tune
There in Mogollon
The mountain makes the rules
There in Mogollon
They're sifting through the greed
There in Mogollon
A chance is all he needs

Charlie's life found him a chasin'
In far west New Mexico
Just two panyards and a jackass
And a whore from San Angelo
Charlie learned the packtrails
Knew the tunnels all by heart
You see it all amounts to choices
When your mines are too damn dark
Just a poor boy from Kentucky
Who got lost along the way
(chorus)

Charlie he left searching
And was never seen again
Did he find it in the hills…
Did he find it in the sin
When a man is set to mining
He sees all in shades of grey
And if the shaft it were collapsing
Would you leave or would you stay
Is it here or Purgatory
Or are they both the same?
(chorus)

So tonight I grab a lantern
Take my place among these souls
Who somehow turned the wrong direction
And pay the price for what they chose
As I wander ever deeper
In the blackness that surrounds
I see Charlie right beside me
By the sparks of his pickaxe down…
(chorus unique)


2002 Two Mule Music/BMI. All rights reserved.