The Water Frame

Historical-Industrial Folk, Dark Folk, Americana, Ominous, tense, and mechanical, Led by an anxious, storytelling male baritone with an English folk accent, A blend of acoustic guitar and dissonant cello with a cold, relentless, metronomic thump and industrial percussion, like a machine's heartbeat

[Verse 1] There's a house been built Down by the river's edge Not of stone, but blood-red brick. It don't sleep, it don't rest It's got a smoky breath Makes the air all thick and sick. [Verse 2] It's a sound I hear When the wind is right A heavy, hollow, steady groan. The river's got a different heart It beats all through the night A hungry sound of iron on stone. [Chorus] And the price is fallin' Down at the market hall. Half the coin for twice the work. The shuttle flies 'til my fingers bleed But I can't outrun the speed Of the water frame's cold thirst. [Verse 3] My neighbor's lad, he walks the road His face all pale and thin He don't look up, he don't look back. He's a factory hand No longer his own man Lost inside that box of black. [Verse 4] My good wife, she don't sing no more She just mends the children's worn-out shoes. I watch my son's hands at his little loom And I'm shamed by what I knew. [Chorus] And the price is fallin' Down at the market hall. Half the coin for twice the work. The shuttle flies 'til my fingers bleed But I can't outrun the speed Of the water frame's cold thirst. [Outro] A hungry sound of iron on stone... Half the coin for twice the work... © 2026 The Shady River Bard. All rights reserved.

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