I remember the ways in the bygone days   when we was all in our prime   When us and John L. we give the old man hell   down in the Blue Diamond Mine      Well the whistle would blow 'for the rooster crow   full two hours before daylight   When a man done his best and earned his good rest   at seven dollars a night      In the mines in the mines   in the Blue Diamond Mines   I worked my life away   In the mines in the mines   In the Blue Diamond Mines   I fall on my knees and pray.      You old black gold you've taken my lung   your dust has darkened my home   And now I am old and you've turned your back   where else can an old miner go         Well it's Algomer Block and Big Leather Woods   now its Blue Diamond too   The bits are all closed get another job   what else can an old miner do?         Now the union is dead and they shake their heads   well mining has had it's day   But they're stripping off my mountain top   and they pay me eight dollars a day