For all those millmen who cut their teeth
Whose minds were made up on roof and feed
I’ll come and I’ll leave
Aching from a night in the city
It might ruin me now, but I’d probably already be ruined
For skin burned black with coal and grease
That stuck to their lungs whenever they’d breathe
I’ll come and I’ll leave
Tempted by the lights of the city
No clowning around
T onight we’re going out to get ruined
And I probably woulda never have thought
If it weren’t written on metal
That this is very old ground that you’re running from
Can’t look for long, gotta be left and gone by five
To be half-seas over by nine
And bleeding drunk by midnight
Forever indebted to the feats of our fathers
But carry it on your back, it’s a sure collapse
Laid out flat, gaspin’
All the trouble you attract
With cause to match
Would bring a quick collapse
If you always had to carry that
If the gear wheel goes
(There’s gonna be a flood comin’)
When the wallower rolls
(There’s gonna be a flood comin’)
Next thing you know
(There’s gonna be a flood comin’ on)
And the water won’t spare us
(The water won’t spare us)
If it comes to get us
(If it comes to get us)
And it won’t let up ‘til all that’s dear and precious is gone
And our hearts all screech a hault
Whenever there’s a flood coming on
And when that flood comes it comes as a canon
One that lets you catch the shot in your hands
But just to send its shocking tidal wave
Through every bone in your body
Dealt our hands, mine’s low on luck
If you’re all going out you can sign me up
Seems the only time that I can collect my thoughts
Is if I’m bleeding, stinking drunk (so drink up)
We’ll admit in the names of our fathers
But carry it on your back, it’s a sure collapse
Laid out flat, gaspin’
All the trouble you attract, with cause to match
Would bring a quick collapse
If you always had to carry that
And even though the doubt we all felt
Came to prove itself
The overflow came down
With a force we never dreamed off
When that rolling canon shot
Rolls along again, our guard is up
All the damage and all we’ve lost
Lost it all with a canon shot