1. Early each morning the mist starts a-rising
Out of the valley and over the town
Only the stray dogs wander down Main Street
The windows all boarded; the mine all shut down.

CHORUS:
And only the tombstones are new there
Nothing else changes; nothing else grows
Who'll be the last one to tend to the tombstones?
Who'll tend his tombstone when it's his turn to go?

2. Once there were miners, their wives, and their children
Trying to live there on company pay;
Building their houses deep in the hollows;
Working til black lung took them away.

3. Nightime comes early, deep in the mountaisn.
Only the moonlight reaches the town.
Only the stray dogs bark in the hollows.
Only the mountains remember the sound.