My history is no secret
It's written in the stones
In the hill beside this river
Rest my mother gentle bones.

And daddy there beside her
On my mothers next of kin
And their legacy passed down to me
The sons of mountain men.

Raised to be a miner
By a miners callised hands
Has my youth between these mountains
Where i grew to understand.

That family was the word of God
And faith was its demand
And life and death is sinking
From the coal beneath this land.

Well, a rich man writes the book of laws.
A poor man must defend
But the highest laws are written
On the hearts of honest men

If that cup is passed to me
To do what must be done
When they lay me down remind them
I was just my father's son.

I've walked among these people
Heard the stories that they tell
I've crawled beside them in the mines
And touched the walls of hell.

I've shared their sacred secrets
Known their triumph and their pain
And right or wrong i'll stand with them
On the final judgement day.

They say God gives his comfort
When the time of trouble comes
They say we'll own no share of peace
Til we lay down our guns.

But will my boy have the chance to do
The things i've never done
Or will he like me be told to be
Must be his father's son.

Well a rich man writes the book of laws
A poor man must defend
But the highest laws are written
On the hearts of honest men.

When that cup is passed to me
To do what must be done
On chunk of coal just carve these words
''I was just my father's son...''