Dark As A Dungeon (cover) Nina Ricci

"Dark As A Dungeon" was written by Merle Travis, but I first heard it on an Alan Lomax anthology record. I just loved it and thought I'd learn it at some point. The version I heard is by an Irish singer named Glenn Yarbrough, who interestingly, had a Nashville connection and used to be a member of The Limelighters.

Dark As A Dungeon lyrics

Verse 1
Oh come all you young fellers so bold and so fine
Seek not your fortune in dark dreary mines
It'll form as a habit and seep in your soul
Till the stream of your blood runs as black as the coal

Chorus
It’s dark as a dungeon and damp as the dew
Where the dangers are double and the pleasures are few
Where the rain never falls, the sun never shines
It's a dark as a dungeon way down in the mine

Verse 2
Well it's many a man I've seen in my day
Who lived just to labour his poor life away
Like a fiend with his dope and a drunkard with his wine
A man must have lust for the lure of the mine

Chorus

Verse 3
And I pray when I'm dead and the ages shall roll
My body will blacken and turn into coal
Then I'll look from the door of my heavenly home
And pity the miners out digging my bones

Chorus

#darkasadungeon #merletravis #glennyarbrough #folk #cover