Lyrics:
And what have we got, but the cranes above us soaring?
The commotion and the clamour in the welding of the steel?
What have we got, but the mist upon the river?
Tell me, what have we got, but the noise inside the hold?
Busted arms, and busted heads,
Broken backs and broken legs,
I'd sooner put ye in a splint than have them put ye in the ground.
And the fumes from all the welding where the poison air is hung,
And the toxic radiation that's been blackening your tongue,
I could give you's all an aspirin while you're coughing up your lungs,
But it's all you'll ever get here in this shipyard.
Steel men, hey
Working on a bridge of steel
Working on a bridge of steel
Out on the rocky western coast of Vancouver by the sea
At a place that's known as Second Narrows they were building a bridge of steel
Well, they hammered and they cut and they riveted and the welding torches were bright
Making a strap on a river's back, went on pourin' from day till night
Steel men (hey)
Working on a bridge to cross (that water)
Steel men (ho)
Working on a bridge of steel
Well, it happened on the eighteenth day of June back in nineteen-fifty plus eight
People were fishing from the shore, the day was getting late
Now the wind was tugging at the maple trees but a steel man knows no fear
If somebody wanted to bridge the Pacific, well, a steel man would be there
Steel men (hey)
Working on a bridge to cross (that water)
Steel men (ho)
Working on a bridge of steel
Well, all of a sudden, now, the wind picked up and it blew as hard as it could
And that steel bridge swayed like a leaf in the breeze and it snapped like a stick of wood
Now the girders buckled and the rivets broke and the water heard the cry
And that steel bridge shook off the working men like a hounddog shakes off flies
Steel men (hey)
Working on a bridge to cross (that water)
Steel men (ho)
Working on a bridge of steel
Eighteen men just as hard as nails and as eager as a brand-new bride
And as the clock on the tower said a quarter-to-four, all eighteen had died
Steel men (hey)
Working on a bridge to cross (that water)
Steel men (ho)
Working on a bridge of steel
Steel men (hey)
Ain't going back to a wife and daughter
Steel men (ho)
Living and dying by steel
Living and dying by steel (hey)
Living and dying by steel (hey)
Steel men, hey
Working on a bridge of steel
Working on a bridge of steel
Out on the rocky western coast of Vancouver by the sea
At a place that's known as Second Narrows they were building a bridge of steel
Well, they hammered and they cut and they riveted and the welding torches were bright
Making a strap on a river's back, went on pourin' from day till night
Steel men (hey)
Working on a bridge to cross (that water)
Steel men (ho)
Working on a bridge of steel
Well, it happened on the eighteenth day of June back in nineteen-fifty plus eight
People were fishing from the shore, the day was getting late
Now the wind was tugging at the maple trees but a steel man knows no fear
If somebody wanted to bridge the Pacific, well, a steel man would be there
Steel men (hey)
Working on a bridge to cross (that water)
Steel men (ho)
Working on a bridge of steel
Well, all of a sudden, now, the wind picked up and it blew as hard as it could
And that steel bridge swayed like a leaf in the breeze and it snapped like a stick of wood
Now the girders buckled and the rivets broke and the water heard the cry
And that steel bridge shook off the working men like a hounddog shakes off flies
Steel men (hey)
Working on a bridge to cross (that water)
Steel men (ho)
Working on a bridge of steel
Eighteen men just as hard as nails and as eager as a brand-new bride
And as the clock on the tower said a quarter-to-four, all eighteen had died
Steel men (hey)
Working on a bridge to cross (that water)
Steel men (ho)
Working on a bridge of steel
Steel men (hey)
Ain't going back to a wife and daughter
Steel men (ho)
Living and dying by steel
Living and dying by steel (hey)
Living and dying by steel (hey)
We're taking on water diesel and stores
Laying up awhile before I'm back on board
They're patching her up to go fishing again
They're welding her rudder scrubbing her keel
Scars on her belly need time to heal
In the dock with the trawler men
I know all the people there's nobody new
Soon we'll be leaving with the same old crew
On the green water the tumbling sea
They ain't running like the good old days
Time's just slipping down the old slipways
In the dock so dear to me
Dark is the night
I need a guiding light to keep me
From foundering on the rocks
My only prayer
Is just to see you there at the end
Of my wandering back in the dock
I could use a layoff getting my strength back
But there's a loan to pay off and a few skip jack
So it's a turnaround back in the southerly wind
Pirates coming in to steal our gold
You can count yourself lucky with a profit in the hold
In the dock when we come in
Dark is the night
I need a guiding light to keep me
From foundering on the rocks
My only prayer
Is just to see you there at the end
Of my wandering
Back in the dock
We're taking on water diesel and stores
Laying up awhile before I'm back on board
They're patching her up to go fishing again
They're welding her rudder scrubbing her keel
Scars on her belly need time to heal
In the dock with the trawler men
I know all the people there's nobody new
Soon we'll be leaving with the same old crew
On the green water the tumbling sea
They ain't running like the good old days
Time's just slipping down the old slipways
In the dock so dear to me
Dark is the night
I need a guiding light to keep me
From foundering on the rocks
My only prayer
Is just to see you there at the end
Of my wandering back in the dock
I could use a layoff getting my strength back
But there's a loan to pay off and a few skip jack
So it's a turnaround back in the southerly wind
Pirates coming in to steal our gold
You can count yourself lucky with a profit in the hold
In the dock when we come in
Dark is the night
I need a guiding light to keep me
From foundering on the rocks
My only prayer
Is just to see you there at the end
Of my wandering
Back in the dock
I was a country kid through and through
I got my bare feet bit by a wreckin' crew
Of fire ants on a mission
For total domination of the font yard
Three years old on a ramshackle farm
Winnie the Pooh in the crook of my arm
Brother and sister not meaning no harm, pickin' on me
I was a country kid with a strong foundation
Gettin' myself a whole second education in the back of the bus
Kids kissin' and cussin' all around me
One more pickup in the trailer park
Hand to mouth, livin'll break a young heart
Beautiful girl with a hard, hard look in her eyes
Then I grew up and hit the city
But the skyscrapers never get me
I fly above 'em all the time, straight through cloud nine
Flowing fast like the Mississippi
I was a country kid shootin' hoops in the dirt
Hidin' smokes in the pocket of a homemade shirt
Runnin' laps in the yard until my little legs hurt and then goin' again
Six feet of air off a plywood ramp
Dad's welding machine parked where I would land
All I could taste was blood, all I could feel were the rocks
In the palms of my hands
I was a country kid throwin' parties in the woods
Draggin' my friends out of their neighborhoods
Jealous of their cable TV and their girls next door
Slippin' off into the dark of the night
The shape of a body traced by moonlight
Interrupted by some other kid wantin' to fight over her
Then I grew up and hit the city
But the skyscrapers never get me
I fly above 'em all the time, straight through cloud nine
Flowing fast like the Mississippi
Flowing fast like the Mississippi, woo
I was a country kid
Now I'm grown, with a job and a wife and a son of my own
Navigatin' time zones, inspectin' the bones of the second half
Talkin' to God a little more often
Less requests and more sayin' thank you
For every single town and every single acre in between
'Cause I grew up and hit the city
But that metropolis'll never get me
I fly above it all the time, straight through cloud nine
Flowing fast like the Mississippi
Yeah, I grew up and hit the city
But the skyscrapers never get me
I fly above 'em all the time, straight through cloud nine
Flowing fast like the Mississippi
The first to put a simple truth in words
Blinds the world in a feeling all familiar
'Cause everybody owns the great ideas
And it feels like there's a big one round the corner
Antenna up and out into New York
Somewhere in all that talk is all the answers
And oh my giddy aunt New York can talk
It's the modern Rome and folks are nice to Yoko
Every bone of river steel, each corner stone and angle
Jenga jut and rusted water tower pillar, post and sign
Every painted line and battered ladder building in this town
Sings a life of proud endeavor and the best man can be
Me I see a city and I hear a million voices
Planning drilling welding carrying their fingers to the nub
Reaching down into the ground
Stretching up into the sky
Why?
The first to put a simple truth in words
Binds the world in a feeling all familiar
'Cause everybody owns the great ideas
And it feels like there's a big one round the corner
Antenna up and out into New York
Somewhere in all that talk is all the answers
And oh, my giddy aunt, New York can talk
It's the modern Rome where folk are nice to Yoko
Every bone of rivet steel, each corner stone and angle
Jenga jut and rusty water tower, pillar, post and sign
Every painted line and battered ladder building in this town
Sings a life of proud endeavor and the best that man can be
Me, I see a city and I hear a million voices
Planning, drilling, welding, carrying their fingers to the nub
Reaching down into the ground, stretching up into the sky
Why?
She woke me in the morning as she slammed my trailer door
She said, "I knew that it was coming
You've been running with that whore"
As I stared at my new girlfriend, wearing nothing but my shirt
I hit the bottle one more time and went to work
To be a West Texas degenerate
Oh well, I'm a West Texas degenerate
Layin' pipe down in the desert, hell, I'm living the damn dream
In my lifted, diesel, Lincoln Blackface, welding rig machine
'Til the bossman sent me home 'cause I had liquor on my breath
I need a steady hand to pass the X-ray test
Oh, to be a West Texas degenerate
Oh, and if it wasn't for the money, I'd be draggin' up my shit
And I've been burnin' rods and burning checks
And burnin' candles at both ends
To be a West Texas degenerate
Oh, yes, I am
Well, I'm headed to Odessa, guess today is my last day
I'm gonna go watch my new girlfriend dance at the Rick's Cabaret
And if I should spend my night inside the Ector County Jail
She'll probably pay my bail with all one-dollar bills
'Cause she's a West Texas degenerate
Oh, and if it wasn't for the money, I'd be draggin' up my shit
And I've been railin' lines and runnin' bead
And being all that I can be
To be a West Texas degenerate
Oh, yes, I am
This life it ain't for everyone out in the Wild West
You learn to fuck and fight and lay some pipe
Get drunk and go to bed
And if you just can't find sleep between the party and the pain
Well, you can stay up 'til the sunrise with the help of some cocaine
Yeah, I got the good cocaine
'Cause I'm a West Texas degenerate
Oh, and if it wasn't for the money, I'd be draggin' up my shit
And I've been burnin' rods and burning checks
And burnin' candles at both ends
To be a West Texas degenerate
Oh, well, I'm a West Texas degenerate
Yeah, a good ol' West Texas degenerate
Oh, yes, I am
Oh, yes, I am
Oh, yes, I am
The gold stops us
The gold always did
The gold took more lives than Uranium
Than Plutonium
Pandemonium
The thunder approaches
The heavy sighing of the monster
Come to break the heavy weather
Come to silence all the singing birds
Tearing up the sky like paper
White-welding through dark steel of clouds
And the release of the sudden rain
The gold stops us
The gold always did
The gold took more lives than Uranium
Than Plutonium.
When I song a sing for you everywhere I go I go for you and when I come back I will wear your welding ring because I am leaving on a jet plane. I don't know when I will be back again
Oh baby, to go I am leaving on a jet plane I don't know when I will be back again Oh baby, to go
I say baby I will be gone for a while so hold it down, do not let this distance turn your love around stick with I through the storm
Because you don know I am the only man that can keep you warm and me say good good love mi say mi get it yah.
Uh
My dude passed, Twan Mack
My muse in rap
Had the gonads to be a nomad
Not rap boobs and ass
Reminded me of me
Back in 83 with A-Tack
Invincible principles
Thank God I ain't been losing that
Steady infusing that
In the era of trap anthems
Lap dances
Jack Daniels all be cruising passed
This 56 year old
Literal, liberal
Looking for medicinal ways
To change my peripheral
Steady looking forward and onward
No matter what's offered
Around me vultures
Still just a songbird
Documenting Black life
Just like the Schomburg
Head steady in the clouds
And feet still on Earth
I said dig ya hands in the dirt
For what its worth
I never meant I never spent
Time around crime an grime
Dimes trying to take my proverbial purse
And jerks trying to steal my soul
I'm so on alert
Head on a swivel
These times are pivotal
Digital age mixed with
A fascist craze of a criminal
A lot of that was preventable
But people voted with a conscience
Now consciousness is at a minimal
A president that talks grabbing girls by the genitals
Resides in the highest office of the land
And oh damn
He's Commanding house senate and generals
I hope activist got they vitamins and minerals
The youth are unreachable
Parents are unteachable
That makes mistakes of the past so repeatable
Wealth is unbelievable
Ownership is minimal
The masses never question
Cuz the message is subliminal
Now it seems the problems of the people are identical
Fast food robbing us of vitamins and minerals
We sacrifice our life from the orders of a general
I freely take advice but they search me like a criminal
C'mon now that's pitiful
Situations critical
White folks can't believe it
They get treated like a Seminole
Hate me I'm strategic
My mind is analytical
The system is enslaving individuals
Yeah
Manipulated since I was born
That ain't cool
Been liberated not fascinated
With pro tool
Get educated by the government
April fool
Pretty soon
Our kids gonna be home schooled
Whew
Times change, rotten eggs get rearranged
Same ole omelette different day
Gotta get our protein either way
So we all pay
The meter maid
Grease Paul's pockets
To get Peter paid
Stack chips like Frito lays
We all slaves at the end of the day
Slaves to sin or righteousness
Even the free obey
From an eternal stand point it'll be ok
Red or blue pill Carlitos way or Neo's way
I am brother Speech
There's at least a few decades
Worth of a legacy
That should bring you peace
Trustworthy
Not just earthy
Heavenly but deadly
Rough and nerdy
Lets get on with it
Lets get on with it
Lets get on with it
Lets get on with it
C'mon
C'mon
C'mon
C'mon
My dude passed, Twan Mack my muse in rap
Had the gonads to be a nomad not rap boobs and ass
Reminded me of me
Back in 83 with A-Tack
Invincible principles
Man, I'm still into that
So
Lets get on with it
Lets get on with it
Lets get on with it
Everybody Lets get on with it
Looking out the window
I'm peeping through the blinds
Yeah if you trying
Then I'm down about mine
Naw, I'm lying
Imma call the police
Cuz the black on black crime
Needs to cease in the streets
Yeah we want peace but
How we gonna get it
Forget it
I'm just trying to level up my credit
I jetted to Grady after smoking
Synthetic
I regret it cuz I never trust the paramedics
I'm headed to the top
In high school I was welding in a shop
In Janet King I was sweeping and I mopped
Man, I even started teaching then I stopped
Plot
I want the mansion and a yacht
But now I'm sleeping in the parking lot on a cot
I'm from the hood where your placement mean a lot
Well, we protect ourselves we don't call the cops
Not
In the trunk ain't a pump just a shovel
Sipping on syrup and I'm bumping heavy metal
Riding around town like I got a score to settle
Man these evil circumstances
Got us dancing with the devil
Never gonna settle got a keep striving
Floor to the pedal
In the ghetto we surviving
Why we gotta suffer
If you really are my sister and my brother
Then the way we treat each other is conniving
Hey, flying out the city to an island
Jumped off the cliff with a spliff
Like I'm diving
Nine and a clip on my hip
When I stopped at QT
Cuz they tried to steal my Jeep while I was driving
Hey, You don't want no trouble stay silent
Put away your gun have fun
NON VIOLENT
This is 1 Love boy
Yeah!
Marco's shadow falls on the door
To the seven lost cities of gold
Finds a raven's head and a rattlesnake's tail
Dead in his tracks, this godforsaken soul's
Unwanted here and his curse lingers for years
Amalia's face hides behind the mask
Sweating on the TV factory line
That smile on her face is starting to crack
While welding back the pieces of shattered heart
That's scattered out here, with the ghosts of her peers
Searches for her lost child along the river of tears
The river of tears
At the end of the working week
When drunken worlds meet
Both sides keeping a close eye
For a break in the line here
On the crystal frontier
The crystal frontier
The ground is shaking and starting to crack
Can't find the pieces of the shattered heart
That's scattered out here
With the ghosts that never disappear
Searches for the lost child along the river of tears
The river of tears
Blood spills out on the streets
And bodies are missing for weeks
Both sides keeping a close eye
Watching the bullets fly here
On the crystal frontier
The crystal frontier
Ramon tightens up his leather belt
And slips through a hole in the fence
He can get you anything you want
Might cost you a life, might cost you
The whole price of freedom here
On the crystal frontier
Marco's shadow falls on the door
To the seven lost cities of gold
Finds a raven's head and a rattlesnake's tail
Dead in his tracks, this godforsaken soul's
Unwanted here and his curse lingers for years
Amalia's face hides behind the mask
Sweating on the TV factory line
That smile on her face is starting to crack
While welding back the pieces of shattered heart
That's scattered out here, with the ghosts of her peers
Searches for her lost child along the river of tears
The river of tears
At the end of the working week
When drunken worlds meet
Both sides keeping a close eye
For a break in the line here
On the crystal frontier
The crystal frontier
The ground is shaking and starting to crack
Can't find the pieces of the shattered heart
That's scattered out here
With the ghosts that never disappear
Searches for the lost child along the river of tears
The river of tears
Blood spills out on the streets
And bodies are missing for weeks
Both sides keeping a close eye
Watching the bullets fly here
On the crystal frontier
The crystal frontier
Ramon tightens up his leather belt
And slips through a hole in the fence
He can get you anything you want
Might cost you a life, might cost you
The whole price of freedom here
On the crystal frontier
Born in Carolina to a family of miners
The flu of 1918 took his mother away
He couldn't go to college, it was the depths of the Depression
The valedictorian pumped gasoline instead
He found himself a sweetheart
In Irma Ora James
The coal miner's daughter with the odd middle name
He labored in the shipyards during World War II
Welding Liberties and Victories
For me and for you
Byrd from West Virginia
Byrd from West Virginia
Byrd from West Virginia Senator Byrd
He burned the cross of Jesus in the West Virginia night
The darkness of America blinded his sight
Baptized in the blood of our national sin
The ghosts of the Conquest rise again and again
As a young man in Congress
He studied law at night
For ten long years he burned a different light
Presented with his J.D. by John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Just before the young president
Was escorted into history
Byrd from West Virginia
Byrd from West Virginia
Byrd from West Virginia Senator Byrd
Fifty years in Washington just passed before his eyes
The building of the empire, its burdens and delights
Did the suffering of the world or the folly of the day
Change a stubborn old heart to see a better way?
Harry's hands are all he's got
8 to 5 in the welding shop
Barely finished junior high
Took a job at the tool and die
And if the weld was double tough
Harry had the knack
He's the kind of guy
Who'd give his friends the shirt right off his back
Now Harry doesn't care for booze
Or stock reports in the daily news
He likes baseball on T.V.
Siamese in today,
Flustered finds me in the middle
Welding our veins to sway
With no regard to forth coming trouble
With no regard to forth coming trouble
With no regard to forth coming trouble
Heights with no means to escape
Soaring coasts mixed with the rubble
Minds eye forms fields of grey
No subtle fears, no grounds for trouble
With no regard to forth coming trouble
With no regard to forth coming trouble
A crane, a map, a sign for trouble
A fear, a door, a sense of gain
To film a crop, unorthodox flowers
A mind, too tall to fit unexplained
I get mad when I’m rubbing on a lamp and I never see a genie
I just want someone to see me
I pae cause I feel like all things need perfecting
I pae cause when somebody better I’m jealous
I pae cause at times I hate me and can’t help it
I pae cause I couldn’t see me being selfish
I pae cause I push most away and can’t help it
I pae when I let pieces be without welding
I pae knowing I would see tears then I let it be
I pae cause I do and did thangs that aren’t helping me
I pae cause I feel like all things need perfecting
I pae cause when somebody better I’m jealous
I pae cause at times I hate me and can’t help it
I pae cause I couldn’t see me being selfish
I pae cause I push most away and can’t help it
I pae when I let pieces be without welding
I pae knowing I would see tears then I let it be
I pae cause I do and did thangs that aren’t helping me
Del Quant, what do you want
And what are you going to do
You've been down for so long
There's nothing in the city for you
If you don't get away you'll be welding til your dying day
Bread and butter and tea
Dirty streets where nothing's free
Irene, she's only fifteen
But she knows she's going nowhere fast
Sees Del whenever she can
It's the only thing she hopes will last
On the seventeenth floor Irene's mother waits in vain by the door
Cos she stayed out last night
Saw them on his motorbike
The weeds are overgrown
A secret garden of their own
So sad it's come to this
It's dark and smells of piss
They smile and steal a kiss
A single moment's happiness
And so they take a ride
Into the countryside
Where they don't need to hide
Far away from all those prying eyes
Sargeant Johnson makes notes
Irene's mother's got a lump in her throat
Cos she's not the kind of girl
To get caught up in his world
Del Quant, you got what you want
But you ended back where you began
Now you're on the run from the law
And your motorbike went under a van
Del Quant, you got what you wanted to be
They welded together a number of bikes
So everyone had his own seat.
After months of planning
And welding
And building
The project was finally complete.
It had dozens and dozens of pedals
And plenty of headlights and bells.
I'm your telescope
Help you see other worlds up close
I'm your submarine
You'll explore where you've never been
I'm your ticking clock
Hold my hands and the time will stop
I'm your megaphone
Turn you up 'til the neighbours moan
Power me on
Light on demand
I'm your magical machine
We can dream digital dreams
Power me on
Control and command
I'm your magical machine
I'll be yours if you let me
I'm your MRI
Show you what's going on inside
I'm your ATM
Take what you like my supply won't end
I'm your MP3
I get sad when you don't pay for me
I'm your IED
Carry me very carefully
Power me on
Light on demand
I'm your magical machine
We can dream digit dreams
Power me on
Control and command
I'm your magical machine
I'll be yours if you let me
I'm wires and welding
Preset to auto
But if I wasn't you would never know
I'm wires and welding
Preset to auto
But if I wasn't you would never know
Power me on
Light on demand
I'm your magical machine
We can dream digit dreams
Power me on
Control and command
I'm your magical machine
I'll be yours if you let me
[Del]
Listen to this
You're just a test tube baby, you can't fade me, but hey G
Your style is lazy, boy you're crazy
Losin it, check out my fusion kit (here it is)
It's welding rhymes and propelling, swelling (rrrahh)
Getting bigger, getting niggaz in headlocks
Instead lock your scanners on Bruce Banner
I crush fools plus tunes used by the master
will blast you into Tuesday, when I bruise a
motherfucker, who mother suck a cock
and his brother fuck a jock, and his sister, got blisters
on her lips that be spreadin, she be-headin (yes she do)
Showin cleavage, with my futuristic styles I leave kids
in a trance, hypnotizin your eyes spin
back in your head like you dead but instead you was buggin
Ugly bitches get the dillz after shows (shows)
Cause I don't be runnin after hoes that be stank
I thank the Lord, for my thought
connected to the microphone, so check the cycle tone
that I be arousin, housin your blouse and your pumps
The mac daddy makes you jump!
Gilbert works alone, late into the night
Dangling from a free way overpass
He's welding rebar and sculpting concrete
They're paving in the gap way out west
In off in the distance, the sleepy city shines
He raises his mask to take a look
Slip from the perch, still holding onto his torch
I see him falling just like a burning star
Out of control
And went drifting way off course
And went drifting way off course
Waking up confused in a bed of thorn
And a world turns upside down
No questions asked, no party ever searched
Like a blip gilbert slips into a void
A rustle nearby then a vision appears
Made from saguaro boots and rib
Grabs a hold of this prickly hand
And together they stand
Walk on through the ruins of a world
That lost control
And went way off course
