He took my fam'ly away from Carolina home

Had dreams about the West and started to roam Six long months on a dust covered trail

They say heaven's at the end but so far it's been hell

And there's fire on the mountain, lightnin' in the air

Gold in them hills and it's waitin' for me there

We were diggin' and siftin' from five to five

Sellin' everything we found just to stay alive

Gold flowed free like the whiskey in the bars Sinnin' was the big thing, lord and Satan was his star

And there's fire on the mountain, lightnin' in the air,

Gold in them hills and it's waitin' for me there

Dance hall girls were the evenin' treat

Empty cartridges and blood lined the gutters of the street

Men were shot down for the sake of fun Or just to hear the noise of their forty four guns

And there's fire on the mountain, lightnin' in the air, Gold in them hills and it's waitin' for me there

Now my widow she weeps by my grave Tears flow free for her man she couldn't save

Shot down in cold blood by a gun that carried fame

All for a useless and no good worthless claim