Artist/Band: Coe David Allan Tabs
Song: A Cold Lump Of Coal Tab
A Cold Lump Of Coal
written by David Allan Coe
1/23/06
SPOKEN: This last song is a song that I wrote which is a song against capitol punishment.
And I would like very much for that to be stated somewhere along the way, that this
is a song against capitol punishment. I wrote this song for my fahter who is
doin' life in Ohio State Penitenciary; he's been there for 23 years.
INTRO: G C-G G D-G
G C G
There is a story the coal miners tell
D
In Hazzard Kentucky about a woman called Nell
C G
She came there from somewhere just her and a child
D G
And bought her a farm in the valley
G C G
Now rumor says she had a whole lot of money
D
That boy never would work a day in his life
G C G
And all of the miners, those old forty-niners
D G
Tried harder than ever to make Nell their wife
C D C G
But Nell was a lady content with the baby
D
She'd had a good man who was lost in the mine
G C G
At night she would listen for sounds of his hammer
D G
And look in the coal miners' faces for signs
G C G
For years people talked of the pretty young woman
D
The boy, long neglected, had turned to a man
G C G
Who walked thru the tunnels in search of his daddy
D G
And carried a cold lump of coal in his hand
C D C G
She called the boy David, a name from the Good Book
D
For she believed prayin' was good for the soul
G C G
She'd found him abandoned when he was a baby
D G
Clutched tight in his hand was a cold lump of coal
C G C G
Now the truth of the matter, she tried to keep secret
D
But small towns know more than a body should tell
G C G
And it wasn't long 'til the story was proven
D G
For someone had murded the lady called Nell
G C G
The investigation meant questioning David
D
They hounded that boy 'til he lost self control
C G C G
It seems on the floor underneath that old lady
D G
Just touching her head was a cold lump of coal
G C G
Now witnesses swore 'twas the work of the devil
D
'Cause Jesus could never have been that unkind
C G C G
The jury said guilty, the judge had no mercy
D G
The boy was convicted of serious crime
C D C G
And it wasn't long after the boy's execution
D
A man name of Billy confessed to the kill
G C G
His conscience was burdened with innocent bodies
D G
For he swore he'd only been doing God's will
C D C G
He told in a vision the Lord had come to him
D
And whispered go down and take that woman's life
G C G
For she is a sinner not fit to be livin'
D G
Go down there and kill her but don't use your knife
C D C G
Now wait 'til the boy leaves to look for his daddy
D
He'll be forgotten down there in that hole
G C G
Billy confessed how he snuck up behind her
D G
And beat her to death with a cold lump of coal
G C G
Now all of you people that's preaching the gospel
D
Remember repentence must come from the soul
G C G
The Lord knows the answer I'm not free to give it
N/C (D) (C) (G)
For I'm just the voice of a cold lump of coal
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