Mountaintop Removal Clearinghouse

West Virginia smiles
warm and wild on an autumn day.
West Virginia smiles
like she wishes you would stay.
West Virginia smiles
and I’m smilin’ too:
broad and wide I cannot hide so glad to be with you.

West Virginia smiles
she’s so proud of her past.
West Virginia smiles
fueled a nation’s furnace blast.
West Virginia smiles
and we smile right back:
forged in bonds unbreakable we’re family to the last.

West Virginia smiles
through the tears of grieving wives.
West Virginia smiles
honors men who gave their lives.
West Virginia smiles
and she opens her arms wide:
so grateful for the chance to meet each new one that arrives.

West Virginia smiles
for how much longer I don’t know.
West Virginia smiles
while they’re raping her for coal.
West Virginia smiles
how can they be so bold?
‘Cause shaven hills and hollow fills must be troubling to her soul.

Fill all the valleys, make the moutains fall.
Isn’t that what ol’ Isaiah said?
But this one sure don’t look to me like no prophet’s call:
with increasing speed they feed their greed
it’s the call of profit instead.

But West Virginia smile
we won’t abandon you to die.
West Virginia smile
let your spruces scratch the sky.
West Virginia smile
wipe that teardrop from your eye.
We don’t know if we’ll win this one but we sure are gonna try

to see West Virginia smile
for ages all to come.
And the mountaineers stand high
while woodpeckers beat the drum.
West Virginia smiles
and it almost strikes me dumb:
so blest to see in her this day a little piece of where she’s from.

Learn the story of the song from the writer. And listen to a snippet sung by Jay Clark.