At the beginning of history
Of mines, there were hardly any.
The first copper mine was dug by mistake
When a Scotsman dropped a penny.

There once was a woman who lived down a mine.
She was young and she sang and she laughed.
She was only a miner's daughter,
But she found a good vein in my shaft.

Mine, mine, mine, mine, darling, will you be mine?

I had been without the company
Of a woman for many a day
And lived the life of a monk.
- Celibate?
Celibate (sell a bit?) I couldn't give it away!

My life was so lonely and I was aware
An affair would have improved it.
- You should have tried a little on the side?
On the side? Don't tell me they've moved it!

Mine, mine, mine, mine, darling, will you be mine?

When I first met the love of my life,
It was winter throughout the land.
It was cold, it was cold, it was so very cold.
- Bitter?
No, I just held her hand.

We decided to go to a town in New England
So the border we traversed
And we stayed in a little tiny sort of hotel.
- Hostel?
Yes, she was at first.
Maine, Maine, Maine, Maine.
- Bangor?
Yes, somewhere in Maine.

The songs of the past are
All death and disaster.
The old mining songs are the pits.
We needed a cheerful song about mining.
I'm sorry if this wasn't it.

When the men of the deep gather round the piano,
No chorus could ever be finer.
For what do you get when you drop
A piano down a mine shaft?
- A flat miner?
Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine.
It's an old joke, but it's mine.