Verse 1:
I can't stay much longer, Melinda,
The sun is getting high.
I can't help you with your troubles,
If you won't help with mine.
I gotta get down, I gotta get down,
Gotta get down to to the mine.
Verse 2:
You keep me up just one more night,
I can't sleep here no more.
Little Ben clock says quarter to eight;
You kept me up 'till four.
I gotta get down, I gotta get down,
Or I can't work there no more.
Break
Verse 3:
A lotta poor man make a five dollar bill,
Will keep him happy all the time.
Some other fella's makin nothin' at all
And you can hear him cry,
"Can I go, buddy, can I go down
Take your shift at the mine?"Gotta get down to the Cumberland Mine.
That's where I mainly spend my time.
Make good money, five dollars a day.
Made anymore, I might move away.
Verse 4:
Lotta poor man got the Cumberland Blues
He can't win for losin'
Lotta poor man got to walk the line
Just to pay his union dues.
I don't know now, I just don't know
If I'm goin' back again.