Chords for Matt Andersen - Coal Mining Blues (XM Session)

I grew up in a small town, [A] Perth, Andover, New Brunswick.
Pretty [Fm] musical family, so that's kind of where I got started [Gb] playing with music.
[Eb] Then just picked up [Bb] guitar probably when I [Eb] was 14, I guess.
Never really took any [Ab] lessons, just [Eb] sat in with the family and friends
and [Bb] went to Masonic Hall every Monday night and played [Ab] country.
Then, _ [Eb] _ _ _
yeah, [Bb] then I went to school to work at a recording studio [Cm] in London, Ontario.
[Ab] That was kind of my [Bb] thing for a while.
I knew I wanted to do something with music, but [Cm] wasn't sure what it was going to be.
I _ _ [Eb] _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ [Eb] spend all my days going [Ab] down to [Gm] the mine,
_ _ _ _ [Cm] _ _ _
_ _ _ [Bb] Under the ground where the sun [Ab] never [F] shines.
_ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ [F] _ _
_ [Eb] A break in my back, I put heat in [Cm] your _ house.
_ _ _ _ _ _ I've got [Bb] the roar of a lion, the breath of _ [F] a mouse. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ Black on my hands, and black on [Bb]
my shoes. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Fm] Black on my heart from these coal mine and [F] blues. _
_ _ [Ab] _ _ [F] _ _ _ _
[Eb] The man in the mirror _ [Ab]
looks [Bb] nothing like [Cm] me. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] Just a weary reminder of what I [F] used to be. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ [Eb] _ Sunken red eyes, [Ab] the lines in my _ [C] _ face.
[Eb] _ _ _
[Cm] _ _ _ A [Bb] tired old man has taken [Ab] my [Eb] _
_ _ place. _ _ _ _
_ _ Black on my hands, and black [Bb] on my shoes. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Fm] Black on my heart from these coal mine [F] and blues. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ [Cm] _ _ _ _ _
[Eb] _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ [Cm] _
_ _ [F] _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _
[Bb] _ _ _ [Cm] _ _ _ [Ab] _ _
[Eb] _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ [Cm] _ _ _
[F] _ _ _ [Cm] _ _ _ [D] _ _
[Ebm] I can't [C] fall asleep for [Ab] the dreams [Cm] that may come.
_ _ _ _ [C] _ _ [Bb] When the walls cave in and the coal [Ab] fills my lungs. _ _
[F] _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ [Eb] If life is a blessing, [Abm] then please _ [Ab] let it _ be.
_ [Cm] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Bb] Someday God's light will give these poor souls [Eb] _
relief. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Black on my hands, and black on [Bb] my shoes.
[Eb] _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Fm]
Black on my heart from these coal mine [Eb] and blues. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Fm] _ Ashes to dust with these coal [F] mine and blues. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [C] _ My girlfriend works at the hospital and does a lot of [Gm] house calls.
And she'd been going out and coming back to the house [N] saying,
I worked on the 19th day or I was out on the 7th.
I had no idea she was talking about it.
It turns out that's the name of the _ mine shaft that that community was built around.
I mean, the mines haven't been built or haven't been used there for however many years.
But that's still how the people think.
So I just got in my head how much of an impact that industry and that lifestyle had on people.
And this got me thinking about, you know, I'm pretty lucky to be a musician.
Manual labor is lifting a tire amp, you know.
And these guys were practically killing themselves to put their families through school
and feed their kids and that