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RIP Billy Edd Wheeler [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2024-09-20  

Singer, playwright, songwriter, and American treasure. He wrote a lot of songs that you will know—and this one which I take as the shortest most complete biography of an American working life. It’s a song called Coal Tattoo. FYI: a coal tattoo happens when you are walking along underground minding your own business when the mountain decides to settle down a bit by compressing the coal and coal dust is spritzed under your skin. I was puzzled for years by the end where the miner says “I’m not gonna pay my money away, for dues or a hospital plan. I’m gonna pick coal while the blue heavens roll, sing with the angel band.” Anti-union? Then I realized that he gets to stop paying after he’s gone to heaven! My long-ago sweetheart ran the UMW hospitals.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/9/20/2271560/-RIP-Billy-Edd-Wheeler?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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