The Safety Committee Played On (JHSC Blast Beats)

The Safety Committee Played on [Traditional bluegrass with a dry executive edge. Gravelly Engineer lead; the crew answers in a rough revival gang.] Verse 1 Private capital bought the software house, Put a new name on the door. That software house had bought a treatment plant A little while before. The crew knew every pump by sound, Which valve would stick at two— And after shift, the safety band Played what the gauges knew. Verse 2 The new CEO came down the hall With a memo, neat and brief: “The Safety Committee is dissolved. Music’s outside our remit.” He took the minutes, took the keys, He took the meeting room. But somebody had left the banjo Leaning by the broom. Chorus You can close the committee, You can cancel every song; You can take the nameplate off the door And say the votes were wrong. But when the whistle sounded, And the night shift heard the call, The crew struck up the safety band Right there beside the wall. Verse 3 The foreman set the fiddle case Beside the shutdown chart. The pump hand brought a washtub bass; The wrench man knew the part. “No one’s leaving,” said the CEO. “No one said we would.” They tuned up by the treatment tanks And played as loud as good. Bridge They called it a mutiny In the minutes filed at three. The crew called it a safety meeting With a better key. The chair had been abolished; The hazard list remained. The banjo kept the interval Between the pumps and rain. Final Chorus You can close the committee, You can cancel every song; You can take the nameplate off the door And say the votes were wrong. But when the whistle sounded, The whole plant joined the call: The crew struck up the safety band— And nobody stopped the hall.