Intro
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Verse 1
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I went to the funeral of my old man today 
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The urn that he came home in was a charcoal shade of grey 
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He wanted his ashes spread across the prairies of the USA 
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'Cause he loved John Wayne, the American dream but he 
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never made it out that way 
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Spent his whole damn life working for the man at the 
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power plant driving coal 
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He shoveled that shit from a mountain high and that 
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mountain broke his soul 
 
Bridge
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He was driving coal when I was born 
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And he drove it until he was gone 
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and the only time he hit me was when I asked him 
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for a job - driving coal 
 
Chorus
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And that coal mountain blocks the sun from my window 
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Standing in the horizon so stern and strong 
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The coal mountain, within five miles of it nothing grows 
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I've lived in the shadow of that mountain all my life 
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All my life 
 
Verse 2
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Now the service it was simple just the kind he would have liked 
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And Mama wept as she read those words about 
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the dying of the light 
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That same night the snow came down and for 
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a moment it was all white 
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But the ash in the air turns everything here 
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grey like that mountainside 
 
Bridge
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And when we got to who gets what 
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It sure turned ugly enough 
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One grey morning Mama left the house in her robe 
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- and she never came home 
 
Chorus
         F    G                   Am             F 
And that coal mountain blocks the sun from my window 
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Standing in the horizon so stern and strong 
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The coal mountain, within five miles of it nothing grows 
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I've lived in the shadow of that mountain all my life 
       G 
All my life 
 
Solo
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Verse 3
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His ashes never made it to prairies of the USA 
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Visas are a nightmare and getting harder every day 
 
Bridge
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Instead I went in the dead of night 
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Buried the urn in the mountain side 
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Said: "Here it stops", poured some whiskey on top 
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and left them both - I left them both behind 
 
Chorus
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And the coal mountain blocks the moonlight from the road 
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Disappearing in the horizon as I go 
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The coal mountain, within five miles of it nothing grows 
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I won't live in its shadow for a moment more 
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I won't live in its shadow for a moment more