Leave the Mountain's Steel

[Intro] [Instrumental: two bars of harmonized twin guitars; bass joins bar two; drums enter bar three] [Verse 1] You plant the red stake where the shale gives way I sight the ridge and mark the grade Our chain runs east through the pass’s throat The new line waits where the cold streams go [Chorus] Leave the steel where the mountain fell Walk them down before the daylight’s gone We can draw this line again someday But i won’t trade a life to save the haul [Verse 2] The aftershock rolls; the cut face breaks Black rock seals the only road away The truck is buried to its running boards The crew looks back at the tools we hauled [Chorus] Leave the steel where the mountain fell Walk them down before the daylight’s gone We can draw this line again someday But i won’t trade a life to save the haul [Guitar solo] [Instrumental: twin-guitar harmony lead] [Bridge] Count every head; keep close to the wall Take water, the map, and nothing more The pass can keep what we cannot carry We move as one before the sun drops [Chorus] Leave the steel where the mountain fell Walk them down before the daylight’s gone We can draw this line again someday But i won’t trade a life to save the haul [Outro] Red stakes behind us, one by one The ridge turns dark; we keep walking home We’ll find another way through the stone