(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...''
