Idaho Boy: Listen to My Songs

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In between two mountain passes in central Montana lies the town of Butte, surrounded by sawed-off-shotgun-blasted mountains that are all that remains of the Anaconda Mining Company. Hundreds of emigrant Irish died here workin' the Anaconda Mine.

Here in nineteen five, just to stay alive
We work in the Anaconda mine
Where the smelter’s fumes are the town’s perfume
They burn the throat and sting the eyes
So we’ll drink our rum ‘till the angels come
And chase the demons away
So the meek be damned, with a steady hand
We set the charges and we pray

Fourteen hours a day you work like slaves
Picking rocks and digging in the dirt
While you eat your gruel don’t forget this rule:
Make a fortune for Daly and Hearst
So we’ll drink our rum ‘till the angels come
And chase the demons away
And come Saturday night when we drink and fight
We’ll sing all our sorrows away

Once we tried to strike for a better life
Arm in arm, a thousand angry men
But their clubs and guns put us on the run
And our leaders met a bloody end
So we’ll drink our rum ‘till the angels come
And chase the demons away
And we’ll dream of the time when we leave the mine
The angels will carry us away