The ICE Still Clings to Minnesota

[Verse 1] They swore that the frost had melted They swore that the river ran free But the vans still crawl in the shadows And the chains still drag through the trees From Duluth down to Saint Paul station From the plains to the iron range You can taste that iron in your coffee You can smell that something’s unchanged [Chorus] But the ice still clings to Minnesota Though they toast to a softer day All their fine reports and their figures Can’t wash that cold away Raise your glass to the ones they hunted To the names on a folded page For the ice still clings to Minnesota And it howls with an old-world rage [Verse 2] There’s a man in a sagging jacket With his bloodshot Wandering eyes Takes a drink for every promise Takes a payoff for every lie Like a butcher dressed up as a banker Like a landlord playing a priest He’ll sell you the sun in January Then tax the breath from the least [Chorus] Still the ice still clings to Minnesota Though they toast to a softer day All their fine reports and their figures Can’t wash that cold away Raise your glass to the ones they hunted To the names on a folded page For the ice still clings to Minnesota And it howls with an old-world rage [Bridge] Oh They prop up their crooked story On a polished and splintered stick But the truth keeps pounding the table And the clock keeps ticking, feck. For every cell that’s crowded For every child made small There’s a curse in the throat of the worker And a song in the throat of us all (hey!) [Chorus] So the ice still clings to Minnesota Though they toast to a softer day All their fine reports and their figures Can’t wash that cold away Raise your glass till the rafters rattle For the living and lost and caged While the ice still clings to Minnesota We’ll be singing that rebel rage