Alex Sturbaum 2017
Alex Sturbaum: https://alexsturbaum.bandcamp.com/track/way-down-in-the-toad-mines
https://alexsturbaum.bandcamp.com/track/way-down-in-the-toad-mines
It was way back in ’14 when first I went west Hopped an old empty boxcar and the rails did the rest Spat me out in Wyoming, Bighorn Mountain range It was then that my life took a turn for the strange Heard tell of a job out by Chugwater way They needed some hands, they were willing to pay And me, I was tired of life on the road So I went out prospecting for Wyoming toad Chorus 1: Way down in the toad mines I guess that’s where my sin began Way down in the toad mines Digging for them damn amphibians Now the bull-goose prospector was Warty Joe Flynn And he knew of the state the toad business was in A dollar a day we was paid for our time In hopes we could find a good spot for the mine They came off the skids, off the rails and the roads And soon came the cry: Warty Joe had struck toad We dug the first toad shaft the very next day And the miners came next: where there’s toads, there’ll be pay Chorus 2: Way down in the toad mines Where the time is always evenin’ Way down in the toad mines Digging through them toad secretionsÿ Well, we found us some hoptoads and found us some leapers And damn near caved in once in a seam of spring peepers But in April of that year we struck mother lode A big, croaking vein of pure Wyoming toad We worked day and night to that ribbiting sound Every day we hauled six tons of toad out the ground Chugwater sprung up, and was much talked about No one could have guessed that the toad might run out Chorus 3: Way down in the toad mines For the gods of wealth are jolly gods Way down in the toad mines With your pockets full of polywogsÿ Well, the mine it dried up, and the town dried up too There ain’t no place to go, there ain’t nothing to do We went out prospecting to find a new vein But the good days of toad mining won’t come again I went back on the bum and I hopped a freight train I cut timber for a while, but it weren’t quite the same There never was more than one business for me And boys, the toad business ain’t what it used to be Chorus 4: Way down in the toad mines That’s where I spent my youth Way down in the toad mines Think I might go back east and try panning for newts