Written, Recorded and Performed by Jeff Stachyra with Randy McStine / Guitar Solo (end) and The Stoutmen (Roy Bartrum, Tim Lynch, Sean Walsh) / Backing Vocals
You’d a think it was alive nearly 2000 gone – a few hundred survived – but why and who done it?
That Ol’ Steam Boiler
(Boiler fire, wheel go round / riverboat trouble bound)
That ol’ steam boiler – You’d a think it was alive
Nearly 2000 gone – A few hundred survive
(come gather ‘round people, let me tell you all about it now)
An agent a saboteur – With motive and means
A coal torpedo – Confederate genes
(Boiler fire, wheel go round/riverboat trouble bound)
Captain J. C. Mason – Was itching to move
Captain Speed said all aboard – And Hatch he did approve
Far from Cahaba, Camp Sumter – Heading home soon
Those icy muddy waters – Under the devils moon
(Boiler fire, wheel go round/riverboat trouble bound)
Tragedy loves company
They came as far as Vicksburg – Took a week or two
As each one was recovered – Everybody knew
(come together people, won’t you fold your hand together now)
Their souls will stay together – Common in their grief
Some cursed the lord above – They thought of he a thief
(Boiler fire, wheel go round / riverboat trouble bound)
Some blamed it on the water level – Faulty repair
Louden from his deathbed – Confessed in last despair
He was an agent a saboteur – With motive and means
He used a coal torpedo – Had confederate genes
(Boiler fire, wheel go round / riverboat trouble bound)
Said tragedy loves company
