I can buy Rebecca no new ribbons we can't take no Sunday walks The kids would cry for icecream and I'd be broke cause I've been laid off All I know is Kentucky coal mines but they've got that new machine And it does my job and does it better and it don't knock off for bread and beans A machine can work all day and night and its back don't ever ache It's got no kids that want no a tater no wife to wish for a steak So it don't make a company man a beggin' for a nickel raise That machine's a perfect miner fateful John has been replaced I've spent years and years in tunnels and I fought Satan over coal I stole this fuel for making brown stones when I left this fire was low But mighty deeds don't matter here where Mr Coal is king He'll lay me off next Friday night then hire that new machine That machine can work all day and night and it's never got a gripe It won't cuss and call the union hall or advocate the strike Cause it don't care if water fountains don't run cold and clean So they don't want me because I'm human they just want that new machine I'd like to get my hands on some of them new machines