Lyrics

Title: “The Mine That Didn’t Sing”
(Lyrics: ~2780 characters)

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[Verse 1 – Low and steady, fingerpicked guitar]
There’s a stretch of hill in Italy,
Where the grass grows strange and bent.
And Grandaddy says that’s the place
Where time came and then it went.
A sound like a bird too deep to fly,
A click, a jump, a breath held tight—
And a silence like a choir
Too afraid to sing that night.

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[Verse 2 – Gentle, with bowed strings]
He said her name was Bouncing Betty,
And he knew it when she rose.
A wicked little whisperer
With a song that always closed.
But that day she dropped like mercy,
Like she thought to change her mind—
And Grandaddy, white as judgment,
Walked away and left her behind.

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[Chorus – Slow, four-part harmony]
That’s why he walked like church bells sound,
Like something deep and old.
Like every step might set off fate,
But still he never rolled.
No limp, no pride, just thunder low—
A warning not to mock—
The man who heard the silence ring
Where death forgot to knock.

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[Verse 3 – Bass and soft snare, speaking with rhythm]
He never tried to figure it.
Didn’t question, didn’t pry.
He said “That was the Lord’s own business—
Not for men like me to try.”
He just poured his coffee slow,
And sharpened up his plow,
And folks around the county said
The ground still knows him now.

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[Bridge – Minor key, spoken half-sung]
And when he’d walk through courthouse doors,
Or lean on fence post wood,
The liars felt their mouths go dry,
And the good men understood.
He didn’t carry judgment,
But he carried something fierce—
Like every breath he ever drew
Had passed too close to pierced.

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[Chorus – Full choir, fuller sound]
That’s why he walked like rivers part,
Like burning bushes speak.
Like even devils hang their heads
And dare not move or squeak.
No sermon, just the wind obeyed—
No thunder, just the clock—
That ticks a different measure still
For the man who didn’t stop.

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[Verse 4 – Solo voice, no instruments]
Now I walk the road he traveled,
Though I’m made of softer stuff.
I laugh too loud, I curse too fast,
And I fall when days get rough.
But I remember in the stillness,
When the world holds in its breath—
That mercy ain’t just golden crowns,
Sometimes it walks like death.

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[Final Chorus – Whispered harmony, fading like dusk]
So let me walk like Grandaddy did,
With reverence in my stride.
Not with fear, and not with boast—
But with heaven at my side.
For if the mine had sung its song,
I’d never hear that knock—
Of the quiet man whose shadow walks
Where angels stand on watch.