Spoken Intro
My Granddad Never Called Himself A Hero.
He Was Just Another Miner...
Working Ten-Hour Shifts Where The Sun Never Reached.
I Walked These Tunnels Hoping I'd Understand His Life.
I Didn't.
Because You Can't Understand A Lifetime...
Just By Walking Through The Darkness.
You Have To Remember The Men...
Who Stayed There."
Solo
Verse 1
Before The Break Of Morning,
Before The Rooster Cried,
My Granddad Walked That Gravel Road
With His Dinner By His Side.
Ten Long Hours Underground,
Where The Sun Would Never Shine,
Swinging Steel Through Walls Of Coal,
Leaving Daylight Far Behind.
Pre-Chorus
Forty Minutes Of Clean Air...
Then You Breathed The Dust.
You Learned Real Quick
To Pray And Trust.
Chorus
They Kept The Fires Burning,
While They Burned Their Lives Away.
They Dug The Coal Beneath Our Feet,
So We Could Face Another Day.
They Gave Their Backs,
They Gave Their Years.
Some Came Home...
Some Disappeared.
No Statues Stand To Honor Them,
No Headlines Spoke Their Names.
But Every Fire That's Burning Still...
Remembers Why They Came.
Solo
Verse 2
The Tunnels Shook,
The Roof Would Groan.
Every Man Knew
He Might Not Make It Home.
Heavy Machines,
Broken Stone.
One Wrong Step...
Another Soul Was Gone.
Masks Ran Out
In Forty Minutes Flat.
So They Chewed Tobacco
Just To Fight It Back.
Keeping Their Mouths From Drying Out,
Holding Courage Near.
Every Shift Beneath That Mountain
Could Be Their Last Down Here.
Bridge
My Granddad Lived
Long Beyond Those Mines.
Never Carried Bitterness.
Only Memories.
Sometimes He'd Stop,
Bow His Head.
Speaking Softly
Of The Friends He'd Lost Instead.
I Walked Those Tunnels
Years Too Late.
Trying To Carry
Just A Little Of His Weight.
I Left With Coal Dust
On My Boots...
And A Heart
Full Of Respect.
Final Chorus
They Kept The Fires Burning,
While They Burned Their Lives Away.
They Dug The Coal Beneath Our Feet,
So We Could Face Another Day.
Now Every Train,
Every Flame,
Every Winter
Speaks Their Names.
Some Men Chase Fortune.
Some Men Chase Fame.
Mine Went Underground...
So The Whole World Stayed The Same.
Outro
Forty Minutes Of Clean Air...
A Lifetime Full Of Pride.
He Never Asked For Glory.
He Just Did What Was Right.
And Every Time
I Hear A Whistle Blow...
I Think About The Men
Who Never Made It Home.
