Anaïs Mitchell - Quecreek Flood lyrics

It was late in July At the Quecreek coal mine When the water came rolling down As black as bad blood To where nine good men stood Shuddering, shivering And shouting for deliverance Sure they would drown And safe above ground The boss paced around Surveying the scene of the flood After chasing away The UNWA So inspections were cheap He didn't lose sleep He just stood in the sun What could we have done He said this was an act of God And the President came From his party campaign To shake every hero's right hand After slashing the funds For the miners' black lungs And the regulations God bless our nation He said united we stand And the anchor girl cried When the miner's survived She lauded her god in his glory And the tired camera man Packed up the van And they wore the same frown As they drove out of town Where they found the next sellable story And we who were raised By invisible hands And we who were raised On government lies The prodigal children Of the promised land Who's gonna open our eyes