Tough Nut Silver – a Tombstone, Arizona song by Tanuki Thunder

Verse 1

Eighteen seventy-seven, Ed Schieffelin rode alone
Soldiers said out in those hills all he'd find was his tombstone
He found a ledge of silver shining in the Apache sun
Named the claim to spite 'em, and the rush had just begun
Tough Nut, Lucky Cuss, Contention on the hill
Mules hauled ore down to the river where the stamp mills never stilled

Chorus

Silver in the ground, silver in your hand
Ten thousand dreamers on a dry desert land
Dig it deep, drink it down, ring that Allen Street bell
Tombstone, Tombstone, rich as heaven, wild as hell

Verse 2

By eighteen eighty-one the town was booming loud and proud
Opera on the boardwalk, faro tables, whiskey crowd
Miners on a four-dollar shift, down the shaft by candlelight
Came up with silver in their boots and spent it all by night
Millions out of rock and dust, more than any man had seen
In the town they named for dying, the richest camp there's ever been

Chorus

Silver in the ground, silver in your hand
Ten thousand dreamers on a dry desert land
Dig it deep, drink it down, ring that Allen Street bell
Tombstone, Tombstone, rich as heaven, wild as hell

Instrumental Guitar Solo

Bridge

They dug down past five hundred feet and hit the water table
Big pumps roared to keep it dry as long as they were able
Eighteen eighty-six, the pump house burned to the ground
The water rose, the silver drowned, but the town stuck around

Final Chorus

Silver in the ground, silver in your hand
Ten thousand dreamers on a dry desert land
Dig it deep, drink it down, ring that Allen Street bell
Tombstone, Tombstone, rich as heaven, wild as hell
Tombstone, Tombstone, too tough to say farewell