I was crowned Coal Queen that day

just like the May Queen in the month of May

But the maypole's bright and the mine's so dark

hiding diamond's that are blacker than the devil's heart

 

and looking back upon it, if the truth were told

every woman of the village was a queen of coal.

 

I was judged as the pretty, pretty face of coal

though they'd have to dig much deeper for my heart and soul

and my spirit can't be measured like the shaft of a mine

so you'd need to be more close to me to see it shine

​

And now I sometimes wonder, did the others feel let down?

judged to be less worthy of the Coal Queen's crown?

could have chosen any one of us by simple lottery

to represent the goddess of the industry

 

For all of us were equal in our beauty and our worth

whose fathers, sons and lovers mined the deep, dark earth

we built a close community, our unity was strength

through injury and tragedy we knew what friendship meant

 

But our village was divided by a year of bitter strife

so hard to be a mother and a miner's wife

we battled through the conflict but our world was torn apart

by another kind of Queen with a much colder heart

 

I was crowned Coal Queen that day

just like the May Queen in the month of May

but the maypole's bright and the mine's so dark

hiding diamond's that are blacker than the devil's heart