Traditional & Folk Songs with lyrics & midi music www.traditionalmusic.co.uk 
Dark As the Dungeon 
Dark As the Dungeon (Merle Travis) 
Come all you young fellers so young and so fine And seek not your fortune in the dark, dreary mine It will form as a habit and seep in your soul 'Til the blood of your veins runs as black as the coal
 Where it's dark as the dungeon and damp as the dew Where the dangers are many and the pleasures are few Where the rain never falls and the sun never shines It's dark as the dungeon way down in the mines 
It's many a man I have seen in my day Who lived just to labor his whole life away Like a fiend with his dope or a drunkard his wine A man must have lust for the lure of the mine 
I hope when I'm gone and the ages do roll My body will blacken and form into coal Then I'll look down from the door of my Heavenly home And pity the miner a-digging my bones 
The midnight, the morning, the breaking of day Are the same to the miner who labors away. Where the demons of death often come by surprise, One slip of the slate and you're buried alive. 
(Note: Travis composed the last verse, and used it in some concerts. It did not appear on his, or Ernie Ford's record) Copyright American Music, Inc.