My pappy said when I was seventeen you´re six feet tall and your face is clean
And it don´t look right for a boy that old to not make a livin´ loadin´ coal
Loadin´ coal loadin´ coal I´m a double first cousin to a dad blamed mole

Never get rich for to save my soul and forty ´leven years a loadin´ coal loadin´ coal
Ain´t never got acquainted with a dollar bill and I don´t ever reckon that I ever will
A dollar ain´t made for a fellar I´m told that scoops up a livin´ loadin´ coal
Loadin´ coal loadin´ coal...

I cussed everything in the mining camp from a shovel and my pick to my carbide lamp
But I know mighty well till I grow old I´ll still be a cussin´ but loadin´ coal
Loadin´ coal loadin´ coal...

I know just as well as coal is black one of these days the mines were strike
And I´ll sit around starvin´ till I´m finally told

There´s a nickel more a ton for loadin´ coal
Loadin´ coal loadin´ coal...