This song might be about The Buffalo Creek Flood disaster in West Virginia in 1972. Long story short, a coal mine dam failed which flooded the community below. A federal mine inspector cleared the dam as "satisfactory" only 3 days earlier.
The song sounds like it is written from the mine inspector's point of view. He did not know that his oversight of the sounds he thought he heard would result in a disaster. The people in West Virginia didn't know that he thought he heard something.
This song might be about The Buffalo Creek Flood disaster in West Virginia in 1972. Long story short, a coal mine dam failed which flooded the community below. A federal mine inspector cleared the dam as "satisfactory" only 3 days earlier.
The song sounds like it is written from the mine inspector's point of view. He did not know that his oversight of the sounds he thought he heard would result in a disaster. The people in West Virginia didn't know that he thought he heard something.
...or it could just be a good rhyme...