Jim Pirko

“Dead Steel Town Blues” © 2000 & 2003 James J. Pirko The skies are black, They used to be red; The night testifies, Steel Town is dead! On the banks of a murdered river, Cathedrals of fire brought to life, White-hot strength to build a nation, Spewing money, power, and strife! They built a city to serve those monsters, As dirty and deadly as the sulfur sky; Gamble and drink, and buy some women, Cross the Mob and you’re gonna die! The streets were alive with the struggles of life, Battles to survive in each neighborhood; Under a sky of smoke and dust, At the core of it all the giants stood! Scenes from Hell inside those walls, Smoke and flame and noxious fume, Blasts and screams from ancient machines, Toil until your health you doom! Blackened men sacrificed their lives, To feed those Gods of steel and brick, Stone and scrap and ore and coal, Leaving in pain, tired and sick! Old men now, they face their fate, Wracked with cancer, ache and pain, Their sons will never know their work, The graphite dust or the toxic rain! Those dragons are dead, their fires cold, Slain by steel from foreign shores; They were not saved by elected leaders, A pack of liars, pimps and whores! Now the city crumbles, with empty stores, Gone are the money and power and hope; Nothing to do but watch the mailbox, Rob and kill, and sell some dope! The skies are black, They used to be red; The night testifies, Steel Town is dead!