"Coal Creek" | Clifton Hicks
Added 2019-10-10 23:13:41 +0000 UTC(f# D F# A D) Also know as "Shut Up in Coal Creek Mine" (Green Bailey, 1920s) or "Shut Up in the Mines of Coal Creek" (Brett Ratliff, 2017) I learned this song from George Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky who just calls it "Coal Creek."
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I boarded a train on Wednesday & to the mines did go
At seven o'clock that morning I head that awful blow,
I worked in the mines on Tuesday I worked the day before
By three o'clock on Wednesday I'll work these mines no more.
Outside the birds are chirping the sun is shining bright
But where we are this evening it is as dark as night,
Shut up in the mines of Coal Creek I know that we must die
But if we trust in Jesus to Heaven our souls will fly.
Farewell my darling mother I am your youngest child
Shut up in the mines of Coal creek I know that we must die.
What hills what hills my true love they burn with fires of Hell
They are the hills of Coal Creek where miners work & dwell.
In 1902 there was a mine explosion near the town of Fraterville in northeast Tennessee that killed 216 men & boys, making it the worst mining disaster in the state's history. "Most of the miners were killed by the initial impact of the explosion, although 26 had managed to barricade themselves in a side passage. At least 10 were still alive seven hours after the explosion, but eventually succumbed to toxic air and lack of oxygen. Several miners wrote farewell messages to loved ones shortly before dying, stating they were struggling for air, and encouraging their families to "live right" so they would meet again in heaven. The last body was removed from the mine four days after the explosion." - Wikipedia
