Intro: I remember the ways in the bygone days When we were in our prime When us and John L give the old man hell Down in the Blue Diamond Mine Well, the whistle blowed as the rooster crow Two hours before daylight When a man done his best and he's earned his good rest Paid seventeen dollars a night In the mines in the mines In the Blue Diamond Mines I worked my life away In the mines in the mines In the Blue Diamond Mines Oh, fall on your knees and pray INTERLUDE: You old black gold, you've taken my lung And your dust has darkened my home And now that we're old, you're turning your back Where else can an old miner go Well, it's Algoma Block and it's Big Leather Woods And now its Blue Diamond too Well, the pits are all closed, better get another job What else can an old miner do? In the mines in the mines In the Blue Diamond Mines I worked my life away In the mines in the mines In the Blue Diamond Mines Oh, fall on your knees and pray INTERLUDE: John L had a dream, but it's broken it seems Mining has had it's day But they're stripping off my mountain top And they pay me eight dollars a day You might get a little poke of welfare meal A little poke of welfare flour But I tell you right now, you won't qualify 'Til you work for a quarter an hour In the mines in the mines In the Blue Diamond Mines I worked my life away In the mines in the mines In the Blue Diamond Mines Oh, fall on your knees and pray OUTRO: