Now the last ten years I've worked in the mines Counting the hours of the day 'Til I could wash off the dust from my bones And spend what's left of my pay Oh I wish I was back in the company store With a local girl on my arm Where a pint and a kiss and a fiddler's reel Could keep me safe and warm It's fire in the hole man run for your life A long blue vein of coal Out of the dark and into the light A dollar a day to sell your soul And live through the fire in the hole Well I'm fumblin' now for words to say What's caught behind my tongue 'Cus I'm shaky now 'bout all the things I knew when I was young Just dreamin' tonight that I'm wide awake A thousand feet under the ground And a thousand souls under all that weight Of heaven pressing us down It's fire in the hole man run for your life A long blue vein of coal Out of the dark and into the light A dollar a day to sell your soul And live through the fire in the hole Now a nation will rise from the work we do Making millionaires night and day So I'll sign us up with the union man To get us the rest of our pay Now we'll strike every day if it comes to that I coughed every night for a year and a half We'll meet them at the gates with bullets and some mates And a few men won't come back It's fire in the hole man run for your life A long blue vein of coal Out of the dark and into the light A dollar a day to sell your soul And live through the fire in the hole