Lyrics:

I can't stay much longer, Melinda
The sun is getting high
I can't help you with your troubles
If you won't help with mine

I gotta get down
I gotta get down
I gotta get down to, to the mine

You keep me up just one more night
I can't sleep here no more
Little Ben clock says quarter to eight
You kept me up till four

I gotta get down
I gotta get down
Or I can't work there no more

A lotta poor man make a five dollar bill
But keep him happy all the time
Some other fella's making nothing at all
And you can hear him cry

'Can I go, buddy
Can I go down
Take your shift at the mine?'

Gotta get down to the Cumberland Mine
Gotta get down to the Cumberland Mine
That's where I mainly spend my time
Make good money, five dollars a day
Made any more, I might move away

Lotta poor man got the Cumberland Blues
He can't win for losing
Lotta poor man got to walk the line
Just to pay his union dues

I don't know now
I just don't know
If I'm going back again

I don't know now
I just don't know
If I'm going back again

I don't know now
I just don't know
If I'm going back again