In a cradle of coal in the darkness I was laid, go down!
Down in the dirt and darkness I was raised, go down!
Cut me teeth on a five-foot timber
Held up the roof with my little finger
Started me time away in the mine, go down!

On the day that I was born I was six feet tall, go down!
And the very next day I learned the way to haul, go down!
On the third day worked at board and piller
Worked on the fourth as a long-wall filler
Getting me steam up, hewing the seam, go down!

I’m the son of the son of the son of a collier’s son, go down!
Coal dust runs in the veins where the blood should run, go down!
Five steel ribs and an iron backbone
Teeth that can bite through rock and blackstone
Working me time, away in the mine, go down!

Three hundred years I hewed at the coal by hand, go down!
In the pits of Durham and East Northumberland, go down!
Been gassed and burned and blown asunder
Buried more times than I can number
Getting the coal, away in the hole, go down!

I’ve scrabbled and picked at the face where the roof was low, go down!
Crawled in the seams where only a mole could go, go down!
In the thin-cut seams I’ve ripped and redded
Where even the rats are born bow-legged
Winning the coal, away in the hole, go down!

I’ve worked in the Hutton, the Plessey, the Brockwell Seam, go down!
The Bensham, the Busty, the Beaumont, the Marshall Green, go down!
I’ve lain on me back in the old three-quarter
Up to the chin in stinking water
Hewing the coal, away in the hole, go down!

In the northern pits I’ve sweated and earned me pay, go down!
Toiled in the worn-out drift mines night and day, go down!
Where the anthracite is hard and shining
I’ve tried me hand at the hard-rock mining
I dug me a hole away in the coal, go down!

Out of the dirt and darkness I was born, go down!
Out of the hard black coal-face I was torn, go down!
Lived in the shade of the high pit heap
I’m still down there where the seams are deep
Digging a hole, away in the coal, go down!