Harlan County, USA 
By Cast Iron Filter
Tabbed By Larry Mofle
rmofle at satx.rr.com
10/16/2004


D
In eastern Kentucky
   D
In nineteen-thirty-eight
    D
The miners tried to live their lives 
    G             
The Harlan County way
     D
They hadn't seen a single scrap of coal since '31
       D
They'd gone on strike and wouldn't stop 
          G                  D
Until the fightin' was done

     D 
They did their best to organize
   D
To please the NMU
    D
And old Aunt Molly Jackson tried
   G
To sing 'em what to do
        D
But the people kept on fightin'
D    
Though there wasn't no food around
         D
Till the companies sent the gun thugs
              G
And drove the strikers outta town


Chorus:
C                             A
We never thought it'd come to war but we were wise
            C
And we were waitin' for the chance
            G               C
To get that company out our lives
       D                      C             G 
But it won't be long 'til the bullets fly tonight
           D                       C               G
They might kill us all but they'll never break the strike
          D                    C             G        C
And maybe one day we'll find a way in Harlan County USA 
          D                   C              G
And we'll finally get back to workin' in the mines

Well, the citizens on Harlan
Moved on some thirty years
They gave in to save their families
Cause the money'd disappeared
They'd seen the murder of Jock Yablonski
By that bastard Mr. Boyle
After the Mannington Disaster
They wouldn't work under the soil

Chorus

Well, neither side would compromise
To save the other's skin
And Duke Power liked to bargain
With the lives of workin' men
So the shots rang out among the hills
When the gun thugs came their way
But the miners won in '75
For better work and better pay

Chorus