Keep the Tube Steady

[Intro] [Verse 1] You’re thirty feet above the brake lights Brush tin rattling at your knees The winch coughs once—the basket pitches Your left hand grabs the rail to freeze The cable slack runs out like water The whole platform swings askew You look down through the steel and mirrors And every lane keeps rolling through [Chorus] Tie it down, tie it down With your bare hands to the girder While the road keeps moving under you And the radio gets louder Tie it down, tie it down Hold the hanging frame in place You’ve got one hard knot between the drop And the traffic’s steady pace [Verse 2] You feed the strap around the crossbeam Pull it tight against the sway The foreman’s voice cuts through the handset “Call the lift crew?” “not yet,” you say He counts the minutes, you count fingers Keep your boots against the grate A bus rolls under painted shadow You cinch the hitch and make it wait [Chorus] Tie it down, tie it down With your bare hands to the girder While the road keeps moving under you And the radio gets louder Tie it down, tie it down Hold the hanging frame in place You’ve got one hard knot between the drop And the traffic’s steady pace [Guitar solo] [Chorus] Tie it down, tie it down With your bare hands to the girder While the road keeps moving under you Till the lift crew takes the order Tie it down, tie it down Hold the hanging frame in place You’ve got one hard knot between the drop And the traffic’s steady pace [Outro] The brush stays hooked, the cable holds The foreman finally clears the lane You climb back up against the railing And set the paint tin straight again