Oh Coal River won't you wash my bones away
I'm slaving for the company and I can't get any pay
Well mining coal ain't a way to make a life
And I can't feed the hunger of three kids and a wife
Now the hollers are empty
And the company's left town
And there ain't no more mountains
For Coal River to bend around
Well the curses in these mountains
Taken many of our kind
And the souls dance upon the sands
Where that old river winds
Oh lord won't you take me
Before that mountain does
A life in these hills ain't what I thought it was
So oh Coal River won't you wash my bones away
I'm slaving for the company and I can't get any pay
Well mining coal ain't a way to make a life
And I can't feed the hunger of three kids and a wife
Now the hollers are empty
And the company's left town
And there ain't no more mountains
For Coal River to bend around
Coal River cuts the land
Of whеre I rest my soul
Through thesе barren mountains
My story will be told
I'm heading for a pine box
My mining days are through
Boy, don't trust these mountains
For a curse they'll put on you
