Took my fam'ly away from my Carolina home 
 Had dreams about the West and started to roam 
 Six long months on a dust covered trail 
 They say heaven's at the end but so far it's been hell 
 And there's fire on the mountain, lightnin' in the air 
 Gold in them hills and it's waitin' for me there 
 
 We were diggin' and siftin' from five to five
 Sellin' everything we found just to stay alive
 Gold flowed free like the whiskey in the bars
 Sinnin' was the big thing, lord and Satan was his star 
 And there's fire on the mountain, lightnin' in the air 
 Gold in them hills and it's waitin' for me there 
 
 Dance hall girls were the evenin' treat
 Empty cartridges and blood lined the gutters of the street
 Men were shot down for the sake of fun
 Or just to hear the noise of their forty-four guns
 And there's fire on the mountain, lightnin' in the air
 Gold in them hills and it's waitin' for me there
 
 Now my widow she weeps by my grave
 Tears flow free for her man she couldn't save
 Shot down in cold blood by a gun that carried fame
 All for a useless and no good worthless claim
 
 And there's fire on the mountain, lightnin' in the air
 Gold in them hills and it's waitin' for me there
 Fire on the mountain, lightnin' in the air
 Gold in them hills and it's waitin' for me there
 Waitin' for me there