I went to the funeral of my old man today
The urn that he came home in was a charcoal shade of grey
He wanted his ashes spread across the prairies of the USA
'Cause he loved John Wayne, the American dream but he never made it out that way
Spent his whole damn life working for the man at the power plant driving coal
He shoveled that shit from a mountain high and that mountain broke his soul

He was driving coal when I was born
And he drove it until he was gone
and the only time he hit me was when I asked him for a job - driving coal

And that coal mountain blocks the sun from my window
Standing in the horizon so stern and strong
The coal mountain, within five miles of it nothing grows
I've lived in the shadow of that mountain all my life
All my life

Now the service it was simple just the kind he would have liked
And Mama wept as she read those words about the dying of the light
That same night the snow came down and for a moment it was all white
But the ash in the air turns everything here grey like that mountainside

And when we got to who gets what
It sure turned ugly enough
One grey morning Mama leave the house in her robe - and she never came home

And that coal mountain...

His ashes never made it to prairies of the USA
Visas are a nightmare and getting harder every day

Instead I went in the dead of night
Buried the urn in the mountain side
Said: "Here it stops", poured some whiskey on top and left them both - I left them both behind

And the coal mountain blocks the moonlight from the road
Disappearing in the horizon as I go
The coal mountain, within five miles of it nothing grows
I won't live in its shadow for a moment more
I won't live in its shadow for a moment more