Well I was a young man in my prime

I was barely twenty-three

When I caught what I thought was my lovin’ wife

With the Sheriff’s deputy

Well they tried me in Knoxville

East Central Tennessee

Life and a day I heard them say

Brushy Mountain penitentiary

Chorus:

Don’t come out of the hole

Don’t come out of the hole

You gotta stay down in the cold dark ground

And load another load of coal

Don’t come out of the hole

Don’t come out of the hole

The state owns the rights to your body

Till the good Lord claims your soul

I hadn’t been there very long

I guess a month or so

When they said they need more men in the mines

So in the ground you’ll go

Don’t even think of runnin’

Was the first thing I was told

Cause there’s a guard with a gun and orders to shoot

The first man that comes out of this hole

Chorus:

Don’t come out of the hole…

The end is drawing near

Let me tell you one thing

And I’ll make it very clear

There’s nothing in this whole wide world

Worth the sacrifice of life

Not even the love of a jealous man

For his two timing wife

Chorus:

Don’t come out of the hole…

Repeat Chorus:

Don’t come out of the hole…