My history is no secret it's written in the stones
In the hill beside this river rest my mother's gentle bones
And daddy there beside her among his next of kin
And their legacy passed down to me the sons of mountain men
Raised to be a miner by a miners callused hands
Passed my youth between these mountains where I grew to understand
That family was the word of God and faith was it's demand
And life and death the same came from the coal beneath this land
Well, a rich man writes the book of laws a poor man must defend
But the highest laws are written on the hearts of honest men
If that cup is passed to me to do what must be done
When they lay me down remind them I was just my father's son
I've walked among these people, heard the stories that they tell
I've crawled beside them in the mines and touched the walls of hell
I've shared their sacred secrets, known their triumph and their pain
And right or wrong I'll stand with them on the final judgment day
They say God gives his comfort when the time of trouble comes
They say we'll know no share of peace till we lay down our guns
But will my boy have the chance to do the things I've never done
Or will he, like me, be told that he must be his father's son?
Well, a rich man writes the book of laws a poor man must defend
But the highest laws are written on the hearts of honest men
When that cup is passed to me to do what must be done
On a chunk of coal just carve these words, ''I was just my father's son''