My daddy hailed from Harlan
Up from the shale rock hills that bore him
Wed his second cousin
Just like his old man done before him
She bared him me an' Robert
'fore she lost him to the mine
She drug us down to Memphis back in 1969
He'd sit up in the kitchen
Coughin' up his black dust from the ground
He'd head out ev'ry mornin'
Fore the moon was half way down
When them hills caved in on number 9
Me and Robert heard the sirens
Then a cloud rose up above that hole
And covered daddy and those five men
She left me here in Memphis
Son of her coal miner
In a rented room off Flatbush
Up above this negro diner
I'm still lookin' for somethin'
But I ain't found it yet
That's why I'm pumpn' gas in Memphis
For a man I've never met
Robert grew up taller
Robert grew up proud
And he left a path for me to follow
If I'd ever figured how
Momma milked blood with boyfriends
Hind a curtain in our room
He blew her mind out doin' eight balls
On a Friday afternoon
She left me here in Memphis
Son of her coal miner
In a rented room off Flatbush
Up above a negro diner
I'm still lookin' for somethin'
But I ain't found it yet
That's why I'm pumpin' gas in Memphis
For a man I've never met