LyricMeaning

You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive
Dave Alvin

In the deep dark hills of Eastern Kentucky

That's the place where I trace my bloodline

And it's there I read on a hillside gravestone

You will never leave Harlan alive


Well, my granddad's dad crossed the Cumberland Mountains

And he asked Tillie Helton to be his bride

He said won't you walk with me out of this mouth of this holler

Or we'll never leave Harlan alive


Where the sun comes up about ten in the morning

And the sun goes down about three in the day

And you fill your cup with whatever bitter brew you're drinking

And you spend your life just thinking how to get away


No one ever knew there was coal in these mountains

Till a man from the Northeast arrived

Waving hundred dollar bills and saying I'll pay y'all for your minerals

But he never left Harlan alive


Granny sold out cheap and they moved out west to Pineville

To a farm where the big Richland river winds

And I bet they danced them a jig and they laughed and sang a new song

Who said we'd never leave Harlan alive?



But the times, they got hard and tobacco wasn't selling

And old granddad knew what he had to do to survive

He went and dug for Harlan coal and sent the money back to granny

But he never left Harlan alive


Where the sun comes up about ten in the morning

And the sun goes down about three in the day

And you fill your cup with whatever bitter brew you're drinking

And you spend your life digging coal from the bottom of your grave


Where the sun comes up about ten in the morning

And the sun goes down about three in the day

And you fill your cup with whatever bitter brew you're drinking

And you spend your life digging coal from the bottom of your grave


In the deep dark hills of Eastern Kentucky

That's the place where I trace my bloodline

And it's there I read on a hillside gravestone

You will never leave Harlan alive


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Lyrics by Dave Alvin

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