Lawrence Jones

Intro: Well, the night is as thick as silence You can't cut it with a knife A man lies in the hospital Draining out his life The trucks are on the back road In the dark the headlights shine 'Cause there's one man dead On that Harlan County line Oh, anger, like poison Is eating at your soul Your thoughts are loud as gunfire Your face as hard as coal Bitterness, like buckshot Explodes inside your mind And there's one man dead On that Harlan County line Oh, a miner's life is fragile It could shatter just like ice But those who bear the struggle Have always paid the price There's blood upon the contract Like vinegar in wine And there's one man dead On that Harlan County line From the river bridge at Highsplint To the Brookside railroad track You can feel the long strake building That can never be turned back The dead go forward with us Not one is left behind 'Cause there's one man dead On that Harlan County line Well, the night is as cold as iron You can feel it in your bones It settles like a shroud upon The grave of Lawrence Jones The graveyard shift is walking From the bathhouse into the mine And there's one man dead On that Harlan County line One man dead On that Harlan County line One miner dead On that Harlan County line