John Kirkpatrick
John Kirkpatrick: Old King Coal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfTfFJFx3ac
Under the ground lay Old King Coal, he lay most peacefully He ruled in might and splendor, there was none so grand as he But men came along to tunnel him out and topple him from his throne They tore him down to steal his crown for the power in the old black stone Chorus: There’s fire in the heart of Old King Coal There’s the strength of centuries in his soul There’s a power that grows where his black blood flows So here’s to Old King Coal So they scratched him, hacked him, and harried him out, they ripped him from his bed And they blast his bones asunder, they’d sworn to seen him dead They they carried him out to the sun’s bright light which blinded him in the eye And the blood did drain from every vein until they’d drained him dry Then they cracked his bones on the grinding stones, how gleefully they did grind Oh how they pulverized him, turned him to dust so fine Then they sprayed him into the furnace fire and burned him in the air With a mighty blast, they burned him fast, as he prayed his final prayer And his soul cried out with a final song as he reached his final hour And his heart it burst with singing, so mighty was the power And he sang the water into steam and the steam made the wheels fly round And the song ran on both pure and strong til the wires hummed with its sound Out of the darkness there comes light, out of the earth comes fire Out of the cold comes comfort, as his bones go blazing higher And his soul flies out through the air we breathe and down on the earth we tread That humankind may not forget that Old King Coal is dead