Waiting At The Gate

Tell the miners' kids and wives

There's a blast in the number five

And the families I see standing at the gate

The inspector years ago said number five's a deadly hole

And the men most likely won't come out alive



Waiting at the gate, we are waiting at the gate

Smoke and fire does boil and roll from that dark and deadly hole

While the miners' kids and wives wait at the gate



The inspector told the boss, it was more than a year ago

You're risking these men's lives in number five

That hole's full of fumes and dust, full of high explosive gas

But the boss said we'll just have to take the chance



Waiting at the gate, we are waiting at the gate

Smoke and fire does boil and roll from that dark and deadly hole

While the miners' kids and wives wait at the gate



Well the men in the number five kissed their wives and kids goodbye

Then they walk with their lunch kits up the hill

Everybody told the owner that this deadly day would come

But he said we had to work to pay our bills



Waiting at the gate, we are waiting at the gate

Smoke and fire does roll and boil from that dark and deadly hole

While the miners' kids and wives wait at the gate



Well I tried to get a look of the face I often know

As the men are carried out wrapped up in sheets

I can hear the church bells ringing for the one hundred eleven dead

I can hear the families weeping in the streets



Waiting at the gate, we are waiting at the gate

Smoke and fire does roll and boil from that dark and deadly hole

While the miners' kids and wives wait at the gate



This explosion struck on Wednesday

And I stood by the gate till Saturday

'Til they laid my daddy out with the other men

In the pocket of his shirt I found a little note he wrote

Never go down in a dangerous mine again



Waiting at the gate, we are waiting at the gate

Smoke and fire does roll and boil from that dark and deadly hole

While the miners' kids and wives wait at the gate