Can You Blame the Poor Miner (3:33)
From heaven to hell, he passes each day
Can you blame the poor miner for spilling some pay
On rum-runner’s booty to steel his resolve
Can you blame the poor miner
Those temperance ladies are raising the roof
‘Til you can’t lay your hands on anything proof
But they’ve never spent a day not seeing the light
Can you blame the poor miner
For seeking respite
With pick and a lantern he harvests the coal
Then climbs back out of that cavernous hole
To a constant reminder mountains will move
Can you blame the poor miner
Thirty men lost when the Bellevue did cave
And Hillcrest’s cold blanket of graves
Yet somehow he’s hewn it all from his mind
Can you blame the poor miner
His need to unwind
A family man, old country raised
A wife and children to feed on his wage
If he stands with the union to better his lot
Can you blame the poor miner
From hell to heaven, he passes each day
There’s a light at the end of the tunnel they say
Meantime there’s comfort in draining a glass
Can you blame the poor miner
It might be his last