///*****/// [Intro] (Hammering riff, four bars, crowd clapping on two and four) [Verse 1] Blast furnace glowing like a second sun Shift change whistle when the day is done My old man gave forty years to the mill He's got a bad back, a good name and a will I took the other road, I took the amplifier I traded overtime for gasoline and fire But every song I write still sounds like this town Iron in the melody and thunder underground [Pre-Chorus] You can't wash it off, you can't put it down It's in the water and it's in the sound [Chorus] Steel city heartbeat, pounding in my chest Born in the smoke and the sweat and the rust Steel city heartbeat, never gonna rest We were forged in the fire, we were built to last Steel city heartbeat! [Verse 2] There's a bar on Fifth where the jukebox never sleeps Where the guys from the line come to drown what they keep I played that stage when I was seventeen and broke For a plate of eggs and a lungful of smoke Tonight there's twelve thousand of them out there in the dark Wearing steel-toed boots and the same old scars And when I hit that chord they're gonna feel it in their bones 'Cause I never left, I only carried it from home [Pre-Chorus] You can't wash it off, you can't put it down It's in the water and it's in the sound [Chorus] Steel city heartbeat, pounding in my chest Born in the smoke and the sweat and the rust Steel city heartbeat, never gonna rest We were forged in the fire, we were built to last Steel city heartbeat! [Guitar Solo] (Dirty, blues-rooted, bending like hot metal, double-stop hammer attack) [Bridge] They closed the number three in eighty-two Took the pension and the pride, took the whole damn crew But you can shut a gate and you can lock a door You can't kill a heartbeat that was here before Sing it with me! [Final Chorus] Steel city heartbeat, pounding in my chest Born in the smoke and the sweat and the rust Steel city heartbeat, never gonna rest We were forged in the fire, we were built to last Steel city heartbeat! Whoa-oh, steel city heartbeat! [Verse 3] My brother still works Tuesdays on the line my father ran He came out to the show tonight, he's standing where I can See him there with both arms crossed and doing everything but smile And that is how we say I love you in our part of the world I sent him money once, he sent it back inside a card Said, keep it, I don't need it, and I'm proud of you, that's hard So this one's for the stubborn men who never say a word And carry entire families on shoulders no one ever heard about [Chorus Reprise] Steel city heartbeat, pounding in my chest Born in the smoke and the sweat and the rust Steel city heartbeat! [Outro] (Crowd stomping, riff repeating, band cutting dead on the final hit) This one's for the night shift. Goodnight, work. Hello, everybody!
