Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Dark As A Dungeon Lyrics






It's as dark as a dungeon way down in the mine...

[SPOKEN:]
I never will forget one time when I was on a little visit down home in Ebenezer, Kentucky. I was a-talkin' to an old man that had known me ever since the day I was born, and an old friend of the family. He says, "Son, you don't know how lucky you are to have a nice job like you've got and don't have to dig out a livin' from under these old hills and hollers like me and your pappy used to." When I asked him why he never had left and tried some other kind of work, he says, "Nawsir, you just won't do that. If ever you get this old coal dust in your blood, you're just gonna be a plain old coal miner as long as you live." He went on to say, "It's a habit (CHUCKLE) sorta like chewin' tobaccer."

Come and listen you fellows, so young and so fine,
And seek not your fortune in the dark, dreary mines.
It will form as a habit and seep in your soul,
'Till the stream of your blood is as black as the coal.

It's dark as a dungeon and damp as the dew,
Where danger is double and pleasures are few,
Where the rain never falls and the sun never shines
It's dark as a dungeon way down in the mine.
It's a-many a man I have seen in my day,
Who lived just to labor his whole life away.
Like a fiend with his dope and a drunkard his wine,
A man will have lust for the lure of the mines.
I hope when I'm gone and the ages shall roll,
My body will blacken and turn into coal.
Then I'll look from the door of my heavenly home,
And pity the miner a-diggin' my bones.

The midnight, the morning, or the middle of day,
Is the same to the miner who labors away.
Where the demons of death often come by surprise,
One fall of the slate and you're buried alive.





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Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Dark As A Dungeon Comments
  1. M.... S....

    Early innovators on the guitar, Maybelle would be first and Travis a close second. They are both here on this recording.

  2. t.... ....

    Dark as a Dungeon
    Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
    Album: Will The Circle Be Unbroken

    (Merle Travis)
    Come and listen you fellows
    So young and do fine
    And seek not your fortune
    In the dark, dreary mines

    It will form as a habit
    Seep in your soul
    'Til the blood in your veins
    Runs as black as the coal

    There's many a man
    That I've known in my day
    Who lived just to labor
    His whole life away

    Like a fiend with his dope
    And a drunkard his wine
    A man will have lust for
    The lure of the mine

    It's dark as a dungeon
    Damp as the dew
    The danger is double
    And the pleasures are few

    Where the rain never falls
    Where the sun never shines
    It's dark as a dungeon
    Way down in the mine

    I hope when I'm gone
    And the ages shall roll
    My body will blacken
    And turn into coal

    Then I'll look out the door
    Of my heavenly home
    And I'll pity the miners
    A-diggin' my bones

    It's dark as a dungeon
    Damp as the dew
    The danger is double
    And the pleasures are few

    Where the rain never falls
    Where the sun never shines
    It's dark as a dungeon
    Way down in the mine

    Where the rain never falls
    Where the sun never shines
    It's dark as a dungeon
    Way down in the mine

    Written by: MERLE TRAVIS
    Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
    ℗ 1972 Capitol Records Nashville

  3. J.... H....

    My favorite version was done by Don Reno and Red Smiley--beautiful guitar work in that one!

  4. S.... ....

    No disrespect to Joan Baez...this is it.

    S.... ....

    Nobody can touch this rendition...NGDB forever

  5. M.... P....

    check out the version by Joan Baez now that is really good !