My name is Eddy I'm a worn man now
But I know where I was that day
Hiding from the foreman at the base of the tower
When I saw the mighty bridge give way
Bolts started snapping on the western span
Sounded like machine gun fire
Should've heard her when she hit the ground
The wind blew me over the wire
The cold wind blows
Down by the river where nobody goes
Hell broke free when the bridge came down
We overhead the engineers
Talkin' 'bout the masterplan
something about rust
And a difference in camber
And buckles in the western span
We went back on the job
they swore blue murder
She would never come down
I got away with six broken ribs
I'm the luckiest man around
The cold wind blows
Down by the river where nobody goes
Hell broke free when the bridge came down
When you go to work each day
You think you're gonna come back alive
You kiss your wife and your kids goodbye
You know your gonna play to survive
Sometimes I lie awake at night
And think about the ones who died
The riggers and the chippies and the boilermakers
The boys who had nowhere to hide
I think about how proud we were
And how we got a bad job done
You gotta trust who you're working with
When steel starts to buckle in the sun
The cold wind blows
Down by the river where nobody goes
Hell broke free when the bridge came down
Notes
Many thanks to Mark Seymour and and Mushroom Music Pty Ltd for permission to add this song to the Union Songs collection
This song is on Mark's 2007 CD Westgate about which he writes:
'On this album I have gone in search of ordinary greatness; greatness without bombast, the kind of greatness that conservative politicians can't touch. These are stories of working people who have suffered and triumphed quietly. Perhaps, as the world teeters on the precipice of disaster, there is still hope, for we only have to scratch the surface of history to discover that the best of human nature lies in the forgotten tragedies and hidden triumphs, where ordinary people have found dignity and redemption in their own lives. These are the stories that define us. Human beings have unlimited potential. No challenge is too great.'
This song is on Mark's 2007 CD Westgate about which he writes: