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Dark as a Dungeon

"Dark as a Dungeon" is a song written by singer-songwriter Merle Travis. It is a lament about the danger and drudgery of being a coal miner in a shaft mine. It has become a rallying song among miners seeking improved working conditions.

Recorded versions
Merle Travis on Folk Songs of the Hills, 1946 • Maddox Brothers and Rose, 1950 • Cisco Houston, Early 1950s • Tennessee Ernie Ford, 1955 • Harry Belafonte on The Many Moods of Belafonte (1962) • Gordon Lightfoot and Terry Whelan on Two Tones at the Village Corner, 1962 • Johnny Cash, studio version as the b-side of "Understand Your Man" single (1964) • Wolfe Tones on The Foggy Dew -as "Down in the Mines" (1965) • The Twiliters on In Concert (1966) • Johnny Cash, live version on At Folsom Prison (1968) • Merle Travis with The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on Will the Circle Be Unbroken (1972) • Dolly Parton on 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs (1980) • Patrick Sky on Through a Window, 1985 • Wall of Voodoo on Seven Days in Sammystown (1985) • The Seldom Scene with Charlie Waller on 15th Anniversary Celebration (1988) • Frank Tovey on Tyranny and the Hired Hand (1989) • Souled American on Sonny (1992) • Ramblin' Jack Elliott, duet with Guy Clark, on Friends of Mine (1998) • The Chieftains with Vince Gill on Down the Old Plank Road: The Nashville Sessions (2002) • Marley's Ghost on Ghost Country (1996) • Queens of the Stone Age, 2005 • Jerry Garcia and David Grisman on Been All Around This World (2004) • Charlie Louvin on Sings Murder Ballads and Disaster Songs (2008) • Kathy Mattea on Coal (2008) • Willie Nelson on Country Music (2010) • Amy Grant on the Lee C. Camp & Friends specialty album, Tokens 9: "Back to Green" (2010) • John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats on The Front Porch Sessions (The Front Porch Festival, 2012) • John Mellencamp for the soundtrack of the documentary From the Ashes (2017) • Joni Mitchell on the archival release Joni Mitchell Archives – Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963–1967) (2020) • Being a well-documented song publicized by EFDSS, and Mainly Norfolk, the song was recorded by Jon Boden and Oli Steadman for inclusion in their respective projects A Folk Song A Day and 365 Days of Folk. ==Published versions==
Published versions
Rise Up Singing page 145 ==References==
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