We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.
/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

about

Written by Matt Rivers in the wake of the derailment of the Norfolk Southern train, 32N, in East Palestine, Ohio, on February 3, 2023.

lyrics

’Twas the year of ’23
On my way to Tennessee
Riding on the Norfolk Southern Line
I got pinched in Alabam’
And they crammed me in the can
I thank God I never made east Palestine

I got out in time to see
What kind of grease spot I would be
If I’d hugged that train all the way to Ohio
Vinyl Chloride in the drain
Thick black smoke and acid rain
And four thousand folks with nowhere else to go

Just about two months before
The railroaders sought for more
They set out to strike but Joe laid down the law
When you’re sick you’ll go to work
If you can’t whistle wheeze you jerk
Go out and make a dime for Alan Shaw

Shame on Joe and Mayor Pete
You know it happened on their beat
And they just sat there twiddling their thumbs
Shame the system, boy, and how
Politicians all kowtow
To greedy, sheister, grifter corporate bums

If ever on the street I saw
That parasite named Alan Show
I’d tell him before I spit in his eye
The only stocks that you should see
Are the stocks and pillory
Between the rails; set on a railroad tie

So the same old story goes
You fine the rich, you jail the ‘bos
It’s blood and sludge from sea to shining sea
NS and CSX
UP; BNSF
It’s all the same old O-L-I-garchy

credits

from The First Shall Be The Last, released May 1, 2023

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Matt Rivers image

Matt Rivers

Matt Rivers is a modern relic & torchbearer for the old ways of song craft & performance; following in the footsteps of such artists as: Woody Guthrie, Blind Willie McTell, Harry McClintock, & countless nameless & forgotten forebears of the folk tradition. ... more

contact / help

Contact Matt Rivers

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Matt Rivers, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featured guests are the golden-voiced Baby Rose and psyche soulsters Brainstory.
listen now