Iron Mule

Send away your prayers
Hammer down the nails
Do the same tomorrow
A penny for your pain
Another mile of rails
Another unblessed day
Your back is bent
Fingers hurt
Your mouth is full of dirt
Over mountain and lakes so blue
We’ll take the iron mule
In a year and a day
The railway must come through
Inch by inch, like a snail so slow
But soon the iron mule will glow
From the southern shores
To the harbours of the north
Twentyone and old
Winter wind is cold
Lungs they bleed for the iron mule
To make way for the new
Fever makes you weak
You cry yourself to sleep
Arms they keep on pounding on
Sledge it weighs a ton
Over mountain and lakes so blue
We’ll take the iron mule
In a year and a day
The railway must come through
Inch by inch, like a snail so slow
But soon the iron mule will glow
From the southern shores
To the harbours of the north
Twentyone and old
Winter wind is cold
Lungs they bleed for the iron mule
To make way for the new
Fever makes you weak
You cry yourself to sleep
Arms they keep on pounding on
Sledge it weighs a ton
Over mountain and lakes so blue
We’ll take the iron mule
In a year and a day,
The railway must come through
Inch by inch, like a snail so slow
But soon the iron mule will go
In sun and rain
From now and ever on