Lyrics

Now these days the world is talkin’
Of the heroes of the air.
Everywhere you hear folk praisin’
Those brave men who do and dare.
And there is no doubt about it,
They are very plucky chaps,
Who with death will go a flirtin’
With a smile upon their maps.
There are other brave men also,
Of whom you have never read –
Men who take all kind of chances
Just to earn their daily bread.
And I’m sure unheralded heroes
Are the men who fall in line,
And face death to earn a livin’
Down in Springhill’s bumpy mine.

Our famous bumpy coal mine
Is a mine and then some deep.
And I’ll tell the world it gets you
When the place begins to “creep.”
When you feel the pavement quiver
Boy, that gets a fellow’s goat!
That is when you start to shiver
And your heart is in your throat.
Then I’m sure they cannot blame you
If you wish that you were home.
For you never know the minute
You are gonna lose your dome.
There’s a sort of creepy feelin’
Runnin’ up and down your spine
When the place is all a-workin’
Down in Springhill’s bumpy mine.

Now, a “bump” is a disturbance
That is something like a quake.
And when Number Two is kickin’
All the shops on Main Street shake.
Oh, she hits a nasty wallop,
And the work she does is neat!
For the high-side and the low-side,
And the roof and pavement meet.
She won’t give you any warning.
You have no time to prepare.
But she has you at her mercy,
If you happen to be there.
And before you is a vision
Of an overcoat of pine,
If you’re present when she’s bumpin’
Down in Springhill’s bumpy mine.

Citation: O’Donnell, And Now the Fields are Green (1992), pp 132-3;
Korson, Coal Dust on the Fiddle (1965)