From the recording Junction City
Lyrics
Junction City
Copyright, Joe Beeler 2014
My father was an Illinois farmer. No finer life could there be found
for a boy to spend his childhood in the good clean air on the good warm ground.
But daddy’s heart gave out too early; left six kids and bills come due.
Mom sold the farm; moved to Junction City, and a young boy did what he had to do.
At twelve years old I worked the tipple; breathed that dust and cut my hands.
All my life I’ve been a cold miner – Body of a beast, soul of a man.
When I die look to heaven. That is where my soul will be found.
Place my body in a mausoleum. I’ve did my time in the cold dark ground.
I’ve seen men die by the hundreds. I’ve Watched them choke on their own lungs
for little more than bleak subsistence. A man must crawl if he can’t run.
Everyday a wake and I pray to Jesus. My faith, my life I place in him.
I kiss my wife and I kiss my children, then in the cold dark ground I go again.
When I die look to heaven. That is where my soul will be found. Place my body in a mausoleum. I’ve did my time in the cold dark ground I’ve did my time… in the cold dark ground.