A Puddler's Tale

Song By Stan Rogers

Lyrics: (As near as I can tell)

They neither know of night or day,
They night and day pour out their thunder.
As every ingot rolls away,
A dozen more are split asunder.
There is a sign beside the gate: Eleven days since a man lay dying,
Now every shift brings fear and hate, and shaken men in terror crying.

The molten rivers boil away a fiery brew Hell never equaled,
To their profits the bosses pray,
And Mammon sings in his grim cathedral:
His attendants join the choir,
and Heaven help us if we're shirking!
Stoke the furnace's altar fire and just be thankful that we're working!

Do this, then, charge the hoppers high, 'lest you endure the foreman's holler!
Do this, then, drain the tankards dry,
And let us toast the almighty Dollar;
It keeps us chained here before the fire,
Where heat and noise set the weak a'quaking.
At the Siren's infernal cry the open hearth sets the ground a'shaking.

Do this, then, raise the babies high and make them shriek with love and laughter!
Do this, then, kiss you woman's eyes,
and raise a song unto the rafters.
Wash the steel mill from your hair,
Beat the table 'till it's breaking.
Nor let terror enter there and in the hearth set the glasses breaking!

Deffinitions:
Puddler - an ironworker of sorts.
ingot - An ingot is a piece of metal that is cast into a shape suitable for further processing.
asunder - Split apart.
Mammon - A personification of riches and greed as an evil spirit or deity.
shirking - To avoid or neglect a duty or responsibility.
hopper - A funnel-shaped chamber in which loose material is stored temporarily, being filled through the top and dispensed through the bottom.

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• Music

  • "The Puddler's Tale" by Stan Rogers (iTunes)