Here in northeast Ohio
Back in eighteen-o-three
James and Dan heaton
Found the Ore that was linin' Yellow Creek
They built a blast Furnace
Here along the shore
And they made the cannonballs
That helped the union win the war
Well my Daddy worked the furnaces
kept them hotter than hell
I came home from 'nam worked my way to scarfer
A job that'd suit the Devil as well
Taconite, coke and Limestone
Fed my children and made my pay
Them smokestacks reachin' like the arms of god
into a Beautiful sky of soot and clay
Well my daddy come on the Ohio works
When he come home from World War Two
Now that yards just scrap and rubble
He said 'them big boys did what Hitler couldn't do'
These mills they built the tanks and bombs
That won this countries wars
We sent our sons to Korea and Vietnam
Now we're wondering what they were dyin' for
From the Monongahela Valley
To the Mesabi iron Range
To the coal mines of Appalachia
The stories always the same
Seven hundred tones of metal a day
Now sir you tell me the worlds changed
Once I made you rich enough
Rich enough to forget my name
When I die I don't want no part of heaven
I would not do heavens work well
I pray the devil comes and takes me
To stand in the fiery furnaces of hell.
-Bruce Springsteen
James and Dan heaton
Found the Ore that was linin' Yellow Creek
They built a blast Furnace
Here along the shore
And they made the cannonballs
That helped the union win the war
Well my Daddy worked the furnaces
kept them hotter than hell
I came home from 'nam worked my way to scarfer
A job that'd suit the Devil as well
Taconite, coke and Limestone
Fed my children and made my pay
Them smokestacks reachin' like the arms of god
into a Beautiful sky of soot and clay
Well my daddy come on the Ohio works
When he come home from World War Two
Now that yards just scrap and rubble
He said 'them big boys did what Hitler couldn't do'
These mills they built the tanks and bombs
That won this countries wars
We sent our sons to Korea and Vietnam
Now we're wondering what they were dyin' for
From the Monongahela Valley
To the Mesabi iron Range
To the coal mines of Appalachia
The stories always the same
Seven hundred tones of metal a day
Now sir you tell me the worlds changed
Once I made you rich enough
Rich enough to forget my name
When I die I don't want no part of heaven
I would not do heavens work well
I pray the devil comes and takes me
To stand in the fiery furnaces of hell.
-Bruce Springsteen
Youngstown
home of an unemployed steel worker
Bessie mine, Jefferson County, Alabama
Monongahela ValleyImages From Photographer Ross Mantles series "In the wake of an American dream" depicting the death of an American town, The Monongahela Valley, find more here
Old Youngstown and Bessie mine photographs from the wonderful Shorpy.com
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