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Ten Candle Days Lyrics
Daddy was a hard man
Worked coal all his life
A dollar a day wage
Kept us alive
So, we headed westbound
When we came of age
Fortunes to be found
When we stake our claim
Singing, la ah la lay, ah la lay, ah la lie
When I die
Won’t you lay me on down
By the Roaring Fork River
Near the old aspen grove
We spend our days searching
This mountain for silver
10 candle days
Be gone for too long
So, we found us a boomtown
To work in the cracks
We're thanking the lord now
For the strength in our backs
With pick-axe and powder
A quick prayer to god
A candle an hour
For each one on the job
We learned fast a man’s measured
By the weight of his ore
Find a woman to treasure
And you could love nothing more
The summer of '18
Blessed us with a child
Our paths ever-changing
With pressure and time
Singing, la ah la lay, ah la lay, ah la lie
When I die
Won’t you lay me on down
By the Roaring Fork River
Near the old aspen grove
We spend our days searching
These mountains for silver
10 candle days
Be gone for too long
Shine on, shine on
These 10 candle days shine on
Shine on, shine on
When the lights run down low
We’ll be coming home
My brothers are gone now
Black soot for ash
I guess what you take out
You gotta give back
A lonely prospector
The last of my kind
The sole protector
Of this silver mine
Singing, la ah la lay, ah la lay, ah la lie
When I die
Won’t you lay me on down
By the Roaring Fork River
Near the old aspen grove
We spend our days searching
These mountains for silver
10 candle days
Be gone for too long
Shine on, shine on
These 10 candle days, shine on
Shine on, shine on
When the lights run down low
We'll be coming home
Worked coal all his life
A dollar a day wage
Kept us alive
So, we headed westbound
When we came of age
Fortunes to be found
When we stake our claim
Won’t you lay me on down
By the Roaring Fork River
Near the old aspen grove
We spend our days searching
This mountain for silver
10 candle days
Be gone for too long
To work in the cracks
We're thanking the lord now
For the strength in our backs
With pick-axe and powder
A quick prayer to god
A candle an hour
For each one on the job
We learned fast a man’s measured
By the weight of his ore
Find a woman to treasure
And you could love nothing more
The summer of '18
Blessed us with a child
Our paths ever-changing
With pressure and time
Singing, la ah la lay, ah la lay, ah la lie
Won’t you lay me on down
By the Roaring Fork River
Near the old aspen grove
We spend our days searching
These mountains for silver
10 candle days
Be gone for too long
These 10 candle days shine on
Shine on, shine on
When the lights run down low
We’ll be coming home
Black soot for ash
I guess what you take out
You gotta give back
A lonely prospector
The last of my kind
The sole protector
Of this silver mine
Singing, la ah la lay, ah la lay, ah la lie
Won’t you lay me on down
By the Roaring Fork River
Near the old aspen grove
We spend our days searching
These mountains for silver
10 candle days
Be gone for too long
These 10 candle days, shine on
Shine on, shine on
When the lights run down low
We'll be coming home
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Jett Bares said in a recent livestream that this song was about a vacation he took with his family several years back. They toured a mine and learned that, because they didn't have clocks down in the mine, they used candles to keep track of time. They had candles that were designed to last for an hour. So, when one candle burned out, they would know an hour had passed and they would light a new one. Once they had burned through ten candles, they would know the workday had passed and it was time to go home. Thus, these are the "ten candle days" the song references.