I can't stay much longer, Melinda, the sun is getting high,
I can't help you with your troubles if you won't help with mine.
I gotta get down, I gotta get down, I gotta get down to the mine.
You keep me up just one more night, I can't sleep here no more.
Little Ben clock says quarter 'til eight, you kept me up 'til four.
I gotta get down, I gotta get down, or I can't work there no more.
Lotta poor man make a five dollar bill, keep him happy all the time.
Some other fella's makin' nothin' at all and you can hear him cry,
"Can I go buddy, can I go down, take your shift at the mine?"
Gotta get down to the Cumberland mine
(Gotta get down to the Cumberland mine)
That's where I mainly spend my time.
Make good money, five dollars a day,
Made any more I might move away.
Lotta poor man got the Cumberland blues,
He can't win for losin',
Lotta poor man got to walk the line just to pay his union dues,
I don't know now, I just don't know, if I'm goin' back again.
