The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #112354   Message #3497759
Posted By: alanabit
02-Apr-13 - 07:35 AM
Thread Name: Songs about iron foundries?
Subject: RE: Songs about iron foundries?
It's a shame I missed this one at the time. For a brief time I worked at William Lee Malleable in Dronfield. I recorded this one on my first album a few years back:
                        Men of Steel

Six o'clock this morning – your hands are chapped and chill
The driver is still yawning as the bus rolls up the hill
He takes your fare without a word – slips the handbrake pulls the wheel
We are the men of steel

Your locker holds your helmet, ear muffs, gloves and specs
On through to the belt – you look like a space cadet
The monster wakes, the whole world shakes – it clatters, groans and squeals
We are the men of steel

The molten iron gorges into coal dust and sand cast
To cooling and to forges – the belt moves on so fast
The heat, the dirt, the noise – don't make our senses reel
We are the men of steel

To hand you soap and towel – the shower man is there
Dust and sand inside you foul your throat and pubic hair
Dirt so deep inside you – no shower or bath can heal
We are the men of steel

We made the pins and divots – the clasps and iron bars
We made the blocks and rivets – the nuts and bolts of cars
And what before was iron ore is heard as church bells peal
We are the men of steel

Now in the foundry's silence the ghostly robot hand
Replaced the daily violence – where people used to stand
A graveyard of hard labour – shut tight with fate's cold seal
We were the men of steel


In passing, I should mention that one very distinguished person, who used to work in an iron foundry, is Lenny Henry. I heard him talking about it on TV one day - and from the detail he gave, he was obviously not bullshitting. I can add from my own short experience that it is not an episode, which I would wish to repeat!