In my home town of Blackie, Kentucky

He came
passin' through one dark, gloomy day

And I considered myself as lucky


When he told me he would take me away

And though he was older, it
made me no difference

His promise of riches was all I could see

At
last I could leave the coal mines of Kentucky

And know something better
than sad poverty



Blackie, Kentucky, you know that I'll miss you


But there are other places in the world I'd like to see

So I must
take this chance to be somethin' more than nothin'

But I'll always hold
you in my memory



But I've never adjusted to sociable livin'

The friends that he knows, they're all strangers to me

Thousands of
miles from Blackie, Kentucky

In a mansion with a husband that never
loved me



He won't let my family and friends come to visit

Because they are country and poor, he's ashamed

Oh, but I'd give my
life, Lord, if I could just go see them

All that's changed about me is
my name



Blackie, Kentucky, oh Lord, how I miss you

If I
could come back home, I'd never leave you anymore

I'd like to see my
poor, hardworking, coal-minin' Daddy

And Mama, and the kids, and the
friends I knew before



My world is as black as the coal in
Kentucky

He won't let me leave him - there's no way to win

I'll
take my own life, dear God, please forgive me

But I've got to get back
home to Blackie once again



An' I've left him a note, in the
mornin' he'll find it

It's my last request and he can't refuse me

I've told him to bury me back in Blackie, Kentucky

Where my family and
my friends can come and visit me



Blackie, Kentucky I'm comin' home
to you

But different from the way you remember me before

So make
me a place and I'll lay me down to rest

And I'll sleep in your arms
forevermore

I'll sleep in your arms forever more