Steelworkers Lament

LYRICS

Steelworkers Lament

I’ve worked on the steel plant all my life
Since the time I was just a lad.
The hours where long, but my back was strong
And I gave then all that I had.
I’ve shovelled their snow at ten below,
From tracks piled high and white
While the city dozed I worked there and froze
There many a winter night…
I’ve shovelled their coal to a boiler old
And just as hot as the grates of hell.
Just useless trash, most stone and ash
That the coal mines couldn’t sell.

I’ve loaded their rails and packed their nails
And bundled their rods and bars,
And  I’ve gasped and choked in the poison smoke
And the fumes of their hot coke cars.
I’ve swung a sledge on the crumbling edge
Of a furnace wide and tall
With my vision blurred with the dust it stirred
And a man just dared not fall

I’ve shovelled their ore from the stinking floor
Of ships from beyond the seas,
And my stomach turned, with the gas was churned
From shovelling manganese.
I’ve burned my feet in the hellish heat
Of a slag pit’s fiery glow,
And I’ve froze my ears at the scrap yard shears
On a night that was ten below.
I’ve swabbed their sewers where a man endures
A stench that’s beyond compare,
In air so foul that the rodents who prowl
Have all abandoned there.

For a man that toils in a steel mill spoils
His chance for a ripe old age,
For the hazards to health are early felt
And he’s old at middle age.
Now these are but few of the jobs I do,
That briefly I’ve made mention
And I fell in my heart that I’ve played my part,
And I’ve earned an early pension.

By Jordan Musycsyn

About Jordan Musycsyn

Jordan is a hard working singer/songwriter, is a masterful storyteller writing songs about life and love with pathos and humour in a Folk-Country style. He sustains a busy touring schedule thruout Canada in support of his Music Nova Scotia award nominated debut album ‘The Pitch’. Drawing on his own life experiences he writes relatable songs of love, loss and the human condition. A dynamic performer, Jordan moves the audience from laughter to tears and back again. The band puts on a high energy live performance with stellar players.

His first album ‘The Pitch’ (released in the fall of 2014) was nominated for 2 Music Nova Scotia awards.  He has toured across the Maritimes and across Canada many times playing his songs solo, with his band, with the Cape Breton Summertime Revue and Tis The Season.

“JORDAN MUSYCSYN is a great musician and a great storyteller”

– Alan Doyle, GREAT BIG SEA

www.jordanmusycsyn.com

facebook.com/jordanmusycsynmusic/