A Canary's Song - Claire Lynch

I remember mountain mornings

So quiet I could almost hear

The wind in the Red Tail’s feathers

And the breathin' of the deer

Those old tracks seem to go forever

As a child I’d walk all day

Finding diamonds in the cinders

And pickin' chunks of coal away

As the morning faded to evening

Then so to came our time

To follow down in my Daddy’s footsteps

And leave the mountain for the mine

We’d always bring a proud canary

Our link to the world of air

And we knew while she kept singin'

We wouldn’t suffocate down there

While the Mockin' Bird warbled

Near the mountain stream

Down in the mine

A canary sang

In a deep dark hole

Men didn’t belong

We listened to our lives

In a canary’s song

(instrumental)

We’d listen for the sunlight

For wings against the sky

We’d listen for the dreams

That make men try

Once again I left the mountain

To find work when the mine shut down

Those old tracks don’t go forever

The end in this hole they call uptown

All I brought was this canary

As I wake from dreams of home

While I pray I’ll hear her singin'

And fear a silence cold as stone

While the Mockin' Bird warbles

Near the mountain stream

In a cold water room

A canary sings

Livin' in this hole

Where I don’t belong

I listen to my life

In a canary’s song

While the Mockin' Bird warbles

Near the mountain stream

In a cold water room

A canary sings

Livin' in this hole

Where I don’t belong

I listen to my life

In a canary’s song

(Instrumental close)