Lyrics
Verse 1
Eighteen seventy-seven, Ed Schieffelin rode aloneSoldiers said out in those hills all he'd find was his tombstoneHe found a ledge of silver shining in the Apache sunNamed the claim to spite 'em, and the rush had just begunTough Nut, Lucky Cuss, Contention on the hillMules hauled ore down to the river where the stamp mills never stilled
Chorus
Silver in the ground, silver in your handTen thousand dreamers on a dry desert landDig it deep, drink it down, ring that Allen Street bellTombstone, Tombstone, rich as heaven, wild as hell
Verse 2
By eighteen eighty-one the town was booming loud and proudOpera on the boardwalk, faro tables, whiskey crowdMiners on a four-dollar shift, down the shaft by candlelightCame up with silver in their boots and spent it all by nightMillions out of rock and dust, more than any man had seenIn the town they named for dying, the richest camp there's ever been
Chorus
Silver in the ground, silver in your handTen thousand dreamers on a dry desert landDig it deep, drink it down, ring that Allen Street bellTombstone, Tombstone, rich as heaven, wild as hell
Bridge
They dug down past five hundred feet and hit the water tableBig pumps roared to keep it dry as long as they were ableEighteen eighty-six, the pump house burned to the groundThe water rose, the silver drowned, but the town stuck around
Final Chorus
Silver in the ground, silver in your handTen thousand dreamers on a dry desert landDig it deep, drink it down, ring that Allen Street bellTombstone, Tombstone, rich as heaven, wild as hellTombstone, Tombstone, too tough to say farewell