At a community meeting about a proposed chromium refinery, two retired steelworkers spoke to the crowd. They introduced themselves as the only living members of their old crew, and the only ones in the crew who wore respirators. They wept with a room of three hundred strangers, recalling how they were ridiculed by management and by their coworkers for wearing the devices. They are the only ones of that crew who have not died from lung disease. As I listened to their stories, this song arrived fully formed.
lyrics
Your Life For Money
Would you trade your life for money?
Come on, it’s just a little
bit of poison, nothing you can’t swallow.
It's like losing a hand, but you get to keep the middle finger.
It's gonna hurt a lot at first, then pain is going to linger.
When you trade life for money.
How far does the water flow?
How deep will the poison go?
Would you sell your blood to vampires,
who tear up the wilds,
who spread contagion building empires,
who solve their problems by writing out cheques?
They look you in the eye while they size up your neck.
When you sell blood to vampires.
How far does the water flow?
How deep will the poison go?
Would you trade your life for money,
to drive a big truck, pay for your funeral?
Just keep pushing your luck
with the billionaires who make holes in the ground.
They got a grave dug for you when you finally fall down.
When you trade life for money.
How far does the water flow?
How deep will the poison go?
How far does the water flow?
How deep will the poison go?
“Write The Soil Lighter” is full of beguilingly mysterious folk-adjacent music, shrouded in shadow and atmospherics. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 30, 2023