Tell the miners' kids and wives,
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There's a blast in the number five.
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And the families I see standing at the gate.
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The inspector years ago said number five's a deadly hole,
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And the men most likely won't come out alive.
|
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Waiting at the gate, we are waiting at the gate.
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Smoke and fire just roll and boil from that dark and deadly hole,
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While the miners' kids and wives wait at the gate.
|
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The inspector told the boss, it was more than a year ago,
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You're risking these men's lives in number five.
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That hole's full of fumes and dust, full of high explosive gas,
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But the boss said we'll just have to take the chance.
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Waiting at the gate, we are waiting at the gate.
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Smoke and fire just roll and boil from that dark and deadly hole,
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While the miners' kids and wives wait at the gate.
|
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Well the men in the number five kissed their wives and kids goodbye,
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Then they walk with their lunch kits up the hill.
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Everybody told the owner that this deadly day would come,
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But he said we had to work to pay our bills.
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Waiting at the gate, we are waiting at the gate.
|
Smoke and fire just roll and boil from that dark and deadly hole,
|
While the miners' kids and wives wait at the gate.
|
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Well I tried to get a look of the face I often know,
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As the men are carried out wrapped up in sheets.
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I can hear the church bells ringing for the one hundred eleven dead,
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I can hear the families weeping in the streets.
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Waiting at the gate, we are waiting at the gate.
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Smoke and fire just roll and boil from that dark and deadly hole,
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While the miners' kids and wives wait at the gate.
|
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This explosion struck on Wednesday,
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and I stood by the gate till Saturday,
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Till they laid my daddy out with the other men.
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In the pocket of his shirt I found a little note he wrote,
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Never go down in a dangerous mine again.
|
|
Waiting at the gate, we are waiting at the gate.
|
Smoke and fire just roll and boil from that dark and deadly hole,
|
While the miners' kids and wives wait at the gate.
|
|
-----------------
|
Waiting At The Gate
|
| Woody Guthrie |
