stragglyrs

Lyrics

Their Dad Was Just a Picture
(Mishler)

Their dad was just a picture hangin' on the living-room wall.

Folks roots out in coal country can run as deep as a dark old mine
In western Pennsylvania they grow up strong, as true as a towering pine
They're quick to help a neighbor, especially in hard times
To give their all and have faith that somehow things are gonna work out fine

My Grandpa Bill was turning thirty, back in 1925
His two-year-old daughter and his baby boy Billy made him glad to be alive
He walked a mile and back each day to a Bethlehem steel coal pit.
His lovin' wife washed his back each night, scrubbing out the dust and grit.

Young Bill and old Gene Potter, they dug coal often side by side
They learned a bit from each other. In their miner's trade they took pride
On a cool spring mornin' outta nowhere rang the knell of a terrible crack
Bill sprinted out to daylight, stopped, turned around and took a look back

He never hesitated when he saw no sign of his old friend
He ran back into that cold black cave, but for both men it was the end
The folks in Spring Run Hollow wailed when they heard how young Bill died
His widow held their two children, too young to know why she cried

Their dad would be a picture hangin' on the living-room wall
Of the house he and his pappy built, done in 1924
A rockslide left him dead and gone in the spring of '25
But the walls of that home spoke love forever, that part of him is still alive

Not much came easy for workin' folks during Great Depression times
And the climb is even steeper when your dad's been killed in the mines
Their mom worked two jobs in town and trudged up the hill from the trolley each night
She too paid a price of sacrifice, loved those children with all her might

What greater love can a man show than to lay down his own life?
He left behind a coal miner's daughter, a namesake son and a wife
His kids could not recall his smile, nor the sweet sound of his voice
But they lived their lives inspired, having been told of his choice

Their dad was just a picture hangin' on the living-room wall
Of the house he and his pappy built, done in nineteen and twenty-four
The walls, they kept his family safe and warm, protecting them from harm
But his son and daughter had no memory of being held in their daddy's arms

Their dad was just a picture hangin' on the living-room wall.