[Intro: older weathered male storyteller rapper, over the piano and drums] Thirty-eight years on the river, and the river never learned my name That's all right, I never asked it to [Verse 1: older weathered male storyteller rapper, rapping steady and plain] Two miles end to end of steel, and every inch of it wants rust Start the east side in the spring, scrape it down to bright and dust By the time we reach the west side, the east side's turnin' brown So you turn around and start again, that's the job in this town Harness clipped onto a cable, and four hundred feet of air Wind'll take your hat, your lunch, and half the color of your hair I seen men freeze, I seen men quit, I seen one good man fall They put his name on a little plate, and the plate's behind a wall Forty thousand cars a day roll under where I stand Not a one of 'em looked up to see the brush in my hand [Hook: older weathered male storyteller rapper, rough and sung, heavy drums] One last coat, brother, gray on gray Forty thousand cars across my back every day Nobody looks up, and nobody has to know One last coat, then I'm hangin' up my own [Verse 2: older weathered male storyteller rapper, the piano climbin'] Last day, top of the north tower, last panel on the list Foreman radios, "Take your time," and the river's full of mist Scrape it back to metal, and the scraper catches somethin' raised Two letters and a little star, painted by hand, half erased R.J. under my scraper, under fifty years of gray And below it, scraped real careful, H.D. from an older day Then a C.M. under that one, and a Big Lou under him Every man who had the last panel left his name beneath the trim So the last man on the tower signs it where nobody looks And the next man finds it scrapin', and he adds his to the book [Hook: older weathered male storyteller rapper, rough and sung, heavy drums] One last coat, brother, gray on gray Forty thousand cars across my back every day Nobody looks up, and nobody has to know One last coat, then I'm hangin' up my own [Verse 3: older weathered male storyteller rapper, steady and proud, the band swelling] So I dip the smallest brush I got, I make it neat and slow Put my letters under Big Lou, T.B., and a star below Sat there on the cable with the whole bay underneath Thought about the four of 'em, and the wind between my teeth Then I loaded up the roller, gray as every year I gave And I covered up my name the way you'd cover up a grave That ain't sad, that's the job, that's what keepin' somethin' means Nobody sees the coat, and that's the coat that keeps it clean Some kid's gonna scrape it back in thirty years and find me there Take your time up there, kid, don't you fall, and bring a spare [Final Hook: key change up a whole step, the drums twice as heavy] One last coat, brother, gray on gray Forty thousand cars across my back every day Nobody looks up, and nobody has to know One last coat, then I'm hangin' up my own [End]
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