There Ain't No Ash Will Burn

(Not an old song, but quite a good one by a Nashville songwriter named Walt Aldridge. I've heard versions by Mollie O'Brien and by Laura Love and Jo Miller. Below is the way I heard it and learned it from the Laura Love Jo Miller CD, though I've seen slight variations in lyrics trasncribed by others. Another great West Virginia song is by Mollie's brother Tim O'Brien, called "A Mountaineer is Always Free," in which he does not specifically mention the state ... but that's the slogan on the official state seal. Mollie and Tim are from Wheeling, I believe.)

I have seen snow that fell in May
And I have seen rain on cloudless days
Somethings are always bound to change
There ain't no ash will burn

Love is a precious thing I'm told
It burns just like West Virginia coal
But when the fire dies down it's cold
There ain't no ash will burn

You say this life is not your lot
Well I can't be something that I'm not
We can't stoke a fire that we ain't got
There ain't no ash will burn

In every life there comes a time
When there are no more tears to cry
We must leave something here behind
There ain't no ash will burn

There is one lesson I have learned
There ain't no ash will burn