Black Soot and Red Blood

Tonight the dis-harmonic symphony of the cicadas plagues my ears

Drifting off to the mind numbing hum of grinding gears

Families starving in the eerie silence of the hills

Lie exposed to the elements so fierce, so fierce

Hold out just one more day

Say the same tomorrow

Say the same tomorrow

For the union hold out

For a fair wage and a living this sorrow

For a fair wage and a living this sorrow

Living and dying union men

Living and dying union men

Meet them in the streets

Meet them in the hollers

Meet them in the hills and don't back down, don't back down

Fight for what is right

For every working man to earn his keep

Fight for what is right

'Til they meet your demands in bloody harlan

[Speech]

Well, at that time we were working ten hours a day

But we were getting 6 and a fraction cents an hour

Well, we breaker-boys would have our feet in the (coal) chute

And we'd be picking the slate out

Well, the breaker-boss'd sneak up behind us

And if he'd see a piece of slate coming through

He'd pick up the piece and he'd hit you in the back with it, and he'd hit you hard!

And he'd say, pick that slate out!

Well, he used to abuse us actually

Well, finally, we got to a stage where we figured that, well, we're going to strike

That was when I learned my first real important lesson

About what happens when you take a position against the coal operators

Against the catholics

Well, the first thing that happened

The union officials came to us and told us had to go back to work

That we were violating the 'agreement.'

We said, to hell with the agreement, we're going to stay out

And strike until we get our demands

Well, then the politicians started visiting us

And putting pressure on us and the parish priests

Well, finally the coal company agreed to meet with us

And they agreed to raise the hourly pay from 6-and-a-fraction cents to 8 cents an hour

So we got big concession, today that wouldn't mean anything, that's only peanuts

But it meant a whole lot to us, for our paycheck at that time

Well, this was my first lesson that if you stuck to your senses

Stuck to your organization, and stuck together in solidarity you could defeat them

Besides that I learned that the politicians worked with the coal companies

I found out the union officials were working with the coal companies

I also found out that the catholic hierarchy was working with the coal commissions

Here was a combination of the whole thing, see?

That you had to pulp up against the whole combination

When the coal and iron trying out find out

Who was trying to instigate a union, well, they'd abuse them!

[Speech continues]

Lives laid down for the union

Scarlet red around your neck

Black lungs and broken backs in bloody harlan, in bloody harlan, in bloody harlan

The years go on and the mountains crumble

The right to live and work, sacrificing body and land

From kentucky to West Virginia the workers rise and fall

While wringing hands profit off of it all