Dark Clouds on the Cumberland

My Daddy said “Here’s good news for you
Now that you’ve become a man
You can work right beside me”
Then I watched him wash the coal dust from his hands.

That night I wrote a little letter
Told them how I loved them so
And I asked them to forgive me
But I couldn’t spend my whole life digging coal

Chorus
I never knew the wind blew cold
I never knew a man grew old
All I heard were coal cars rumbling
Like dark clouds on the Cumberland

In Lexington I worked the stables
In Louisville I shined their shoes
I caught a barge hauling timber
And I rode it all the way to old Saint Lou

Chorus

So many years I’ve been a rambling
Now I see the lights of home
I’ve returned to visit Papa
And lay some wild mountain flowers on his stone