From the flat plains of Ohio we drifted out one day   For the southern part of a journey   Underneath the bridge, the Ohio River sang   As we headed for the hills of West Virginia      And the red sun of the morning was smiling through the trees   As the darkness of the night was quickly fading   And the fog hugged the road like a cloudy, cloudy sea   When we drove though the hills of West Virginia      We smoked the tobacco and drank of the wine   And we spoke of the forest we were passing   And the road would wind and wind and wind   When we drove through the hills of West Virginia      Among all the wealth of the beauty that we passed   There was many old shacks a-growing older   And we saw the broken bottles laying on the grass   When we drove though the hills of West Virginia      The Virginia people watched as we went riding by   Oh, proud as a boulder they were standing   And we wondered at each other with a meeting of the eye   When we drove thought the hills of West Virginia      And once in a while we would stop by the road   And gaze at the womb of the valley   Almost wishing for a path down below   Where we stopped in the hills of West Virginia      Up and down and all around we took our restless ride   And the rocks, they were staring cold and jagged   Where explosions of the powder had torn away the side   Where we drove through the hills of West Virginia      And the orange sun was falling on the southern border line   As the shadows of the night were now returning   And we knew the mountains followed us and watched us from behind   When we drove from the hills of West Virginia   When we drove from the hills of West Virginia