(G)  

[Verse]
   G                          C              D
My history is no secret, it's written in the stones
       G                               C             G
In the hill beside this river, rest my mother gentle bones
    G                              C                D
And daddy there beside her home a- mong his next of kin
          G             C                                G
And their legacy passed down to me, the sons of mountain men
G                         C               D
Raised to be a miner by a miners callused hands
          G                                     C              G
Passed my youth between these mountains where I grew to under- stand
     G                              C                 D
That family was the word of God and faith was its de- mand
    G                                      C                 G
And life and death, the same came from the coal beneath this land

[Chorus]
        D                   G              D                 G
Well, a rich man writes the book of laws a poor man must de- fend
        C                G                               Em
But the highest laws are written on the hearts of honest men
G                              C               D
If that cup is passed to me to do what must be done
          G                             C                G
When they lay me down remind them I was just my father's son

[Instrumental]
(G)  | (G)  | (C)  | (D)  | (G)  | (G)  | (C)  | (G)

[Verse]
     G                                    C                 D
I've walked among these people, heard the stories that they tell
     G                                    C                    G
I've crawled beside them in the mines and touched the walls of hell
     G                                        C                 D
I've shared their sacred secrets, known their triumph and their pain
    G                                          C              G
And right or wrong I'll stand with them on the final judgment day
     G                                  C               D
They say God gives his comfort when the time of trouble comes
     G                                    C               G
They say we'll own no share of peace till we lay down our guns
    G                                     C                 D
But will my boy have the chance to do the things I've never done
        G                                 C               G
Or will he, like me, be told that he must be his father's son?

[Chorus]
        D                   G              D                 G
Well, a rich man writes the book of laws a poor man must de- fend
        C                G                               Em
But the highest laws are written on the hearts of honest men
G                                C               D
When that cup is passed to me to do what must be done
     G
On a chunk of coal just carve these words, ''I was just my father's son...''