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 to eight; You kept me up `till four.
I gotta get down, I gotta get down, Or I can`t work there no more.
A 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 anymore, 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.