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Great Molasses Disaster

from Bandito by Robin Aigner and Parlour Game

/

about

The Boston Molasses Disaster, also known as the Great Molasses Flood and the Great Boston Molasses Tragedy, occurred on January 15, 1919, in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts in the United States. A large molasses storage tank burst, and a wave of molasses rushed through the streets at an estimated 35 mph (56 km/h), killing 21 and injuring 150. The event has entered local folklore, and residents claim that on hot summer days, the area still smells of molasses.[1]

lyrics

GREAT MOLASSES DISASTER

On the north end

By the big bend

The tanker seemed in repose

Purity stood
Close to willow and surely could
Handle the load

The sailors were sweating
And shedding their overcoats
As the temperature rose

But A chink in the armor
A winter too warmer
Would unleash a motherload

Chorus


Too warm for January

Ten/and nine

The air smelled/like September

When you laid down/your life

And the horses stuck like flies

What was I thinking

I checked all the levels
I turned my back and noticed a small
crack

That wasn’t there yesterday
Perhaps it’s a sun ray
A trick the full moon or of the
midday

Sorry my darlin’
I can’t meet today
Just doin my job, doin my job

How could something so sweet
Sweep us all off our feet
Our shoes are where are heads should
be

Chorus

Try as they might, they’d all lose the
fight
Gainst the dark and tidal mound

Houses would tumble
The el track to crumble
The mute boy would cry out loud

On a hill in the wood
The minister stood
To bless the unmarked graves

The day was dark
But he knew in his heart
The absurdity would someone laugh
someday

credits

from Bandito, track released April 4, 2010

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Robin Aigner and Parlour Game Brooklyn, New York

"Local folkie Robin Aigner croons witty, vintage-sounding tunes with dashes of klezmer and swing." —Timeout New York. Brooklyn's Aigner plays engaging and emotive history vignettes, blending 30s novelty tunes, old-time folk, mid-century country-and-western, and Eastern European music. ... more

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