Ballad of Spring Hill

[Verse 1]
In the town of Springhill, Nova Scotia
Down in the dark of the Cumberland mine
There's blood on the coal, and the miners lie
In the roads that never saw, sun or sky
Roads that never saw sun or sky

[Verse 2]
In the town of Springhill you don't sleep easy
Often the earth will tremble and roll
When the earth gets restless miners die
Bone and blood are the price of coal
Bone and blood are the price of coal

[Verse 3]
Down at the coal face miners workin'
Rattle of the belt and the cutter's blade
Crumble of rock and the walls close around
Living and the dead men two miles down
Living and the dead men two miles down

[Verse 4]
Twelve men lay two miles from the pit shaft
Twelve men lay in the dark and sang
Long hot days in a miner's tomb
It was three feet high and a hundred long
Three feet high, a hundred long

[Instrumental Break]

[Verse 5]
Listen for the shouts of the bare-faced miners
Listen through the rubble for a rescue team
Six hundred feet of coal and slag
Hope imprisoned in a three-foot seam
Hope imprisoned in a three-foot seam

[Verse 6]
Eight days passed and some were rescued
Leaving the dead to lie alone
Throughout their lives they dug a grave
Two miles of earth for a markin' stone
Two miles of earth for a markin' stone

[Verse 7]
In the town of Springhill, Nova Scotia
Late in the year of '58
Day still comes, and the sun still shines
But it's dark as a grave in the Cumberland mine
Dark as a grave in the Cumberland mine