Once there was a miner    who held down his job    'til one day he died from    the fate of his God    Now his wife she did mourn him    'til the collectors came around    and stole all his possessions    before they buried him down       Now his wife and his children    pay the rent with their tears    They live alone with one another    wake late at night with their fears    Cause the money ain't nothing    to the rich man in town    but for the sake of a dollar    they let the whole family drown    The old man had wrote out    all the things he had saved    He said he'd saved them a gold mine    but it was all in his head    And one solemn child    who had been born that year    he was brought up with the memories    of the feelings and the fears       Now his wife and his children….       The bartender's arms shook    as he poured one more round    He said he'd heard many stories    and was I long in the town    Well I paid up my dollar    and I laughed as I did    I said I'm one of the family    though I've long kept it hid       Now I'm older an tired now    and I've travelled around    I slept in many dark cities    I've been jailed in small towns    and my father would tell you    if he'd lived to this day    that if life be a gamble    let blood be the stakes