Dark as a Dungeon

First recorded by Merle Travis on Aug 8, 1946, Hollywood, CA, originally released as Capitol 48001.

ORIGINAL MERLE TRAVIS LYRICS, transcribed from Capitol 48001:

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.

CHORUS:
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.

ADDITIONAL STANZA RARELY PERFORMED BY MERLE TRAVIS:

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.

Mother used to sing this song to us and the lyrics haunt me still. The coal mines haven't really changed. Brave men and brute labor are still required to mine the precious fuel in the most dangerous of circumstances. In In 2010, coal miners are still making a hard living.My mind goes back to the risks Daddy and other miners faced each day as they lay on their sides for the 1-2 mile "joyride" to the face of the coal under the mountains of Middle Creek.At the face, they crawled on their knees to mine coal. In addition to the constant pain of miner's knee, they endured slate falls, "shooting from solid" dynamite casualties, and the ever present shortage of breathable air. Has the situation changed?

Before the implementation of mine safety laws there were strategies in place to make the mine appear safe.In the early 40s for example, air was diverted to where it was needed most-to the sections inspectors were visiting on a specific day. Before the ventilation laws, air was short on many sections in any given mine. Needless to say, many miners were short of breath on those days. My father gasped for breath all the time and died with 25% breathing capacity. Why did they continue to go in? They had no other way to support their families.

Maybe we'll discover the real cause of the most recent West Virginia mine disaster where 27 men were recently killed in a methane explosion in an AT Massey mine.I sincerely hope it isn't the result of preventable human error. Companies are still (allegedly)lax in their efforts to ensure safety. One primary safety law for coal companies is to provide adequate ventilation so miners can breathe and methane cannot accumulate in deadly, explosive proportions.

I wish peace for the families those who have died in the dark-as-a-dungeon coal mines.

And peace those whose families look the other way as their miner leaves for work, to avoid bringing them bad luck.

Peace,
Judy