INTRO: Am7 Am     Am7 Am


Well, the night is as thick as silence
          C      G      Am
You can't cut it with a knife

A man lies in the hospital
C        G       Am
Draining out his life

The trucks are on the back road
       C        G          Am
In the dark the headlights shine

'Cause there's one man dead
        C      G      Am
On that Harlan County line



Oh, anger, like poison
   C      G       Am
Is eating at your soul

Your thoughts are loud as gunfire
     C       G       Am
Your face as hard as coal

Bitterness, like buckshot
  C        G         Am
Explodes inside your mind

And there's one man dead
        C      G      Am      Am7 Am
On that Harlan County line



Oh, a miner's life is fragile
         C       G         Am
It could shatter just like ice

But those who bear the struggle
     C      G        Am
Have always paid the price

There's blood upon the contract
     C   G      Am
Like vinegar in wine

And there's one man dead
        C      G      Am      Am7 Am
On that Harlan County line



From the river bridge at Highsplint
       C         G        Am
To the Brookside railroad track

You can feel the long strake building
         C     G         Am
That can never be turned back

The dead go forward with us
    C      G      Am
Not one is left behind

'Cause there's one man dead
        C      G      Am  
On that Harlan County line



Well, the night is as cold as iron
        C       G       Am  
You can feel it in your bones

It settles like a shroud upon
    C        G        Am  
The grave of Lawrence Jones

The graveyard shift is walking
         C           G      Am  
From the bathhouse into the mine

And there's one man dead
        C      G      Am  
On that Harlan County line

One man dead
        C      G      Am  
On that Harlan County line

One miner dead
        C      G      Am  
On that Harlan County line