Ranjit Bhatnagar offered this song (originally written for talk.bizarre in 1995) to the Interrobang Cartel collective. swt later recorded an instrumental version of it, dubbed the "NES Mix", and jwgh later recorded an a capella version based on swt's version.

In-reply-to: adw@cci.com's message of Mon, 26 Jun 1995 16:09:50 GMT
Newsgroups: talk.bizarre
Subject: Eire Canal (was Re: SUICIDAL RODENTS)

In article adw@cci.com (Derrick Williams) writes:

I was riding by the University of Rochester, riding by the Eire canal,

BALLAD OF THE EIRE CANAL

From Buffalo to Derry,
Three thousand miles and more,
It was the first canal, me boys,
What dared to stretch offshore.
They said that we were crazy,
They said it was in vain,
For just as fast as we dug the trench
It filled right up again!

CHORUS:

Some say you still can see them,
Walking o'er the waves,
Ten thousand mules, as many men,
Each one strong and brave.
And sometimes when I'm good and drunk
I seem to hear my pals
Calling me to a hard day's work
On the good old Eire Canal.

The mulewalk made of oak and steel,
The channel lined with stone,
But the winter storms in the mid-Atlant'
You feel right to your bones.
Fourteen good men died there
Just a-building Iceland Lock
And we buried them at sea, each one,
Far from land or dock.

CHORUS

The barges lined up on each side
To cross that first spring day.
The hundred-fifty waypoints
Were stocked with ale and hay.
And when in summer's heat they met,
The westbound and the east,
The celebration went right on
For seven days at least.

CHORUS

Eight years was all she lasted, boys,
Eight years, two months, five days.
I still recall the day they let her
Sink beneath the waves.
The sea was wracked by wailing,
The mulewalk shook with sobs,
When the Trans-Atlantic Railroad
Cost us all our jobs.

CHORUS

(C) 1995 Ranjit Bhatnagar
ranjit(at)moonmilk(dot)com