INTRO: G    F    G  F  G

                           F
I remember the ways in the bygone days
     G       F      G
When we were in our prime
                            F
When us and John L give the old man hell
     G           F       G
Down in the Blue Diamond Mine


                                F
Well, the whistle blowed as the rooster crow
    G       F       G
Two hours before daylight
                                  F
When a man done his best and he's earned his good rest
     G         F         G
Paid seventeen dollars a night


CHORUS:
                    F
In the mines in the mines
       G            C
In the Blue Diamond Mines
  G         F     G
I worked my life away
                    F
In the mines in the mines
       G            C
In the Blue Diamond Mines
    G            F         G
Oh, fall on your knees and pray


INTERLUDE: G  F  G  C    G


                           F
You old black gold, you've taken my lung
         G        F           G
And your dust has darkened my home
                               F
And now that we're old, you're turning your back
      G           F         G
Where else can an old miner go


                                 F
Well, it's Algoma Block and it's Big Leather Woods
    G            F       G
And now its Blue Diamond too
                                      F
Well, the pits are all closed, better get another job
     G           F         G
What else can an old miner do?


CHORUS:
                    F
In the mines in the mines
       G            C
In the Blue Diamond Mines
  G         F     G
I worked my life away
                    F
In the mines in the mines
       G            C
In the Blue Diamond Mines
    G            F         G
Oh, fall on your knees and pray


INTERLUDE: G  F  G  C    G


                              F
John L had a dream, but it's broken it seems
G          F        G
Mining has had it's day
                             F
But they're stripping off my mountain top
         G            F         G
And they pay me eight dollars a day


                               F
You might get a little poke of welfare meal 
  G              F       G
A little poke of welfare flour 
                                    F
But I tell you right now, you won't qualify 
         G          F          G
'Til you work for a quarter an hour 


CHORUS:
                    F
In the mines in the mines
       G            C
In the Blue Diamond Mines
  G         F     G
I worked my life away
                    F
In the mines in the mines
       G            C
In the Blue Diamond Mines
    G            F         G
Oh, fall on your knees and pray