Thanks so much for your input, cnd. After reading your response, I went back and listened to all three recordings several times at a higher volume, and I agree with you about the first (recorded for Samuel Charters) and third (Live at the Gaslight au Go Go) recordings.

In the first recording, the higher volume helped me to hear the word "it" where I previously heard no word at all. So now rather than hearing
"Before be billed by your...", it seems to me that what is being sung is "Before it be built by your..."   And "it" would most likely be referring to the tunnel being built.

Also, at the higher volume, I hear the word '"beaten" not "billed" in the third recording, so I agree with you that the wording is "Before I'll be beaten by your steel-driven gang."

But on the second recording (Shake Em on Down album), I'm still hearing the letter "L" quite clearly, so it still sounds like the word Lewis is singing is "billed" or "built." My wife disagrees with me and hears the word "beaten" which matches what you hear. My 18-year old son says he hears the letter "L" but has no opinion as to what word is being sung.

My wife and I have joked about how this reminds us of something we ran across on the Internet about four or five year ago where different people see different colors in a dress (white and gold versus black and blue).

Jim