The Cherry Mine

Another autumn day up here in Cherry Town
You don't feel November wind when you're 500 feet underground
I thank the lord each night he brought him back home safe
The fire just burned his hands and grazed his face

Another autumn day in the mine the men went down
40 mules to haul the coal with a heavy rolling rusty sound
They lowered the feed hay down some must have caught the lamps
Like water slipping over stones the spreading smoke it moved to fast

Ooooh swing that pick axe boys, sink that shovel in
the rock of northern Illinois
Ooooh hear it echo soft in the earth below and the hopeful sky above

12 men from the rescue squad reached deep for friend and kin
6 times they sank below 6 times they saved more men
My husband rose in smoke and I gripped his living hand
The squad sank for a seventh hell and ended up in the promised land

Chorus

I got my news for free, but I'm a lucky one
481 went down 222 came home
In this little country town on Illinois 89
won't forget that spreading smoke and the day we sealed the Cherry Mine