BIRCHTON (© John MacLean 2013)
Come all you good people I'll tell you a story
Of West By God Virginia and the Big Branch Mine
A dark deadly day seldom remembered
But for those whose memories are frozen in time

I'll never go back to the town of Birchton
Where I used to live, where I used to pray
Too many graves with names too familiar
29 miners died there that day

Cold April morning, mine fan not working
Fact well known to Big Gary May
Superintendent of Big Branch production
Gary knew well how to best earn his pay

Gary worked for an outfit called Massey
Ronald L. Blankenship, CEO
With threats to miners and two sets of safety books
Gary and Ronnie kept the coal on the go

I'll never go back to the town of Birchton
Where I used to live, where I used to pray
Too many graves with names too familiar
29 miners died there that day

Coal dust and methane, a most deadly mixture
When the mine shaft's not cleared by a hard working fan
Good men paid the price of that deadly evasion
April the 5th, 2010

Who mourns for the widows, mourns for the children
Lives full shattered by the blast in that mine
The men all buried, mine shaft shuttered
And Ronnie B. has paid off his fine

I'll never go back to the town of Birchton
Where I used to live, where I used to pray
Too many graves with names too familiar
29 miners died there that day
Song List
Home