Story Behind The Song
More coal mining jobs (and entire communities) are lost to Automation each year than for any other reason.
Song Description
A young man, born in a mining town, has hope for his future as a boy but sees it fade with the rise of the machines, which not only strip the coal from the mountaintop but also the collective soul from the community
| Song Length |
3:46 |
Genre |
Country - Americana, Country - Bluegrass |
| Tempo |
Medium Slow (91 - 110) |
Lead Vocal |
Male Vocal |
| Mood |
Heartbreaking |
Subject |
Change, Sorrow |
| Similar Artists |
Mumford & Sons |
Language |
English |
| Era |
2000 and later |
| |
Lyrics
A Miner's Lament
© 2017/Hank Thomas all rights reserved
I was born on this mountain top
When every man could find himself a job
Then big machines that they brought in
Each did the work of one hundred men
Pre
Now there's nothing here but woe despair and sadness
Some folks just left some descended into madness
Ch
Now we have lost our family home Where generations were born and grown
And our town is all but gone
Damn machines dug more than coal
Automation stripped our soul
Lead break
V2
Children cry, their hunger grows When will it end, nobody knows
Empty houses, washed out roads It's a tale that must be told
We're out of hope, and out of time
All for the sake of some bottom line
Can't go back, can't move on
Automation stripped our soul
Pre
Now there's nothing here, but woe despair and sadness
Some folks just left, some descended into madness
V3
Mountain's gone, ain't no more coal
So many lives, been bought and sold
Too great the cost, for justice lost
Damn machines dug more than coal
Now we can't go back, and we can't move on
Automation stripped our soul
Damn machines dug more than coal
Automation stripped our soul
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