Metal Drums
From the time he was a kid
Mark O'Donnell and his buddies would
Play in the pasture
Out behind his neighborhood
There were acres of vacant land
And they played as only children can
In the pasture
Out in the long tall grass
Metal Drums were lying in the broken glass
The kids would play with the stuff inside of them
They'd crawl in and roll around
End up spinning around on the summer ground
Of the pasture
They were playing the Metal Drums
Banging on the Metal Drums
Beat that Metal Drum a little faster
In the town of Holbrook, Mass.
You're lucky if you got the chance
Working a good job, making a few bucks
And it's Baird & McClair
They run that chemical plant down there
By the pasture
They were playing the Metal Drums
Banging on the Metal Drums
Beat that Metal Drum a little faster
Joanne O'Donnell had five kids
All but one of her kids got sick
She was hard pressed for answers
And on the other side of town
There was street where all the doctors found
Every other woman died of cancer
They were playing the Metal Drums
Banging on the Metal Drums
Beat that Metal Drum a little faster
News broke like a lightening bolt
Across a red hot sky
In the blue TV light
Joanne O'Donnell cried
Seemed like the kiss of death
Hung in the air
When a whole town found out
They'd been poisoned for years
The environmental plan
Put the site on the list of the Big Top Ten
To the tune of 63 million
Thanks to the women and the wives
There's a chain link fence up eight feet high
But that won't bring back their children
As for Baird & McClair
All the soil from the ground to the bedrock down there
Was ruined by the bastards
Thanks to the corporate mind
They protected their assets
They're doing fine
Too bad about the Holbrook disaster
They were playing the Metal Drums
Banging on the Metal Drums
Beat that Metal Drum a little faster
They were playing the Metal Drums
Banging on the Metal Drums
Beat that Metal Drum a little faster
Beat that Metal Drum a little faster now
Beat that Metal Drum now
Beat that Metal Drum
Beat that Metal Drum