Monitor Arms

Streamline belly tanker covered in weeds
A nine volt battery's got all that i need
To set off the air raid sirens
Just to pass the time

Foundry down the block
Hasn't yet been sold off as old stock
Purloined signs of tumult
Mattresses covered, covered in salt

And Continental Iron Works built the Monitor here
Ship-builders swilling and spilling their beer
And the battle hymns of the republic held dear
All is lost
I fear

Blaze it started innocuously
Helicopters circling ominously
36 hours of ten-alarm fire
Rope and clothing were caught in the mire

And Continental Iron Works built the Monitor here
Ship-builders swilling and spilling their beer
And the battle hymns of the republic held dear
All is lost
I fear

Captains came round to pay their respects
Saying this is the last thing we had left
Rope caught fire as a match dropped from a hand
Four blocks of Greenpoint at its command

Sleepy spent sailors stumble on cobble stones
Print setters and fruit stand peddlers stand alone
And the barges weighed down with lime
They're pushed up the canal
One at a time

Continental Iron Works built the Monitor here
Ship-builders swilling and spilling their beer
And the battle hymns of the republic held dear
All is lost
I fear

Windmill spitting out cornmeal
Parisian visitor waiting on his arm to heal
Cacophony of voices down on the pier
As the men deciding to squint and leer

Continental Iron Works built the Monitor here
Ship-builders swilling and spilling their beers
And the battle hymns of the republic held dear
All is lost
I fear

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