Author Topic: PC097: Smokestacks Like The Arms Of Gods  (Read 17089 times)

Heradel

  • Bill Peters, EP Assistant
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 2938
  • Part-Time Psychopomp.
on: March 30, 2010, 12:03:43 PM
PodCastle 97: Smokestacks Like The Arms Of Gods

by Ben Burgis.
Read by Ben Phillips.
A PodCastle original.

At the time, it was pretty exciting stuff. The flaming torches on the tunnel walls as me and half a dozen of my fellow inductees rushed to the ceremony. The older guys who’d known my Da all standing around and beaming down at me as I pricked the drop of blood from my fingertip and pledged eternal loyalty to my fellow workers. Then the singing of the Anthem of the Red Flag and my first taste of whiskey.
Raise the scarlet standard high,
Beneath its folds we’ll live and die…
I knew Guilds weren’t exactly legal, but everyone still seemed to be in one. I’d heard some talk of Guilds sabotaging machinery when conditions got really bad, even walking off the job. In the excitement of the induction ceremony, I didn’t realize just yet that Guilds didn’t do that sort of thing any more.
In our grandfathers’ era, they might have gone on strike. Now that the companies have smartened up and started using drinkers instead of regular humans for plant security, we pretty much drink whiskey and hold induction ceremonies and sing. Good jaunty song, though, real nice beat to it.
Let cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We’ll keep the red flag flying here…


Rated R because those unionbusters don’t play around, and they might just be genuine bloodsuckers.
« Last Edit: April 13, 2010, 12:05:21 PM by Heradel »

I Twitter. I also occasionally blog on the Escape Pod blog, which if you're here you shouldn't have much trouble finding.


lhoward

  • Extern
  • *
  • Posts: 18
Reply #1 on: March 30, 2010, 01:03:26 PM
Dam that was a good story.  Just the kind of thing to listen to on my commute to work.  I could really feel the grit.  It left me thinking of some fantasy lovechild of Deadwood and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.



Void Munashii

  • Matross
  • ****
  • Posts: 267
  • twitter.com/VOIDMunashii
    • Mallville - A Journal of the Zombie Apocalypse
Reply #2 on: March 30, 2010, 02:56:00 PM
Fantastic story; I loved seeing the origins of a labour movement in a fantasy setting, especially that it did not come across as tongue in cheek. I loved the characters, and even though the last line is fairly obvious, I loved it all the same.

I look forward to the sequel where the company moves its factories to goblin territory so they can go back to abusing the workers and not have to pay them as much  ;)

"Mallville - A Journal of the Zombie Apocalypse"
http://mallvillestory.blogspot.com


Katie

  • Palmer
  • **
  • Posts: 28
Reply #3 on: March 30, 2010, 09:06:52 PM
Wobblies off planet, what's not to love? Really well done. Great reading. Great story.



Sylvan

  • Palmer
  • **
  • Posts: 78
    • The Darken Hollow
Reply #4 on: March 31, 2010, 01:09:24 PM
What a brilliant, fantastic tale!

This is what I look for in fantasy:  brilliantly paced, an invigorating world, parallels to things with which I can identify ... all perfection in my estimation.

Thank you, Mr. Burgis and thank you, PodCastle.

This one gets saved!

Yours,
Sylvan (Dave)



Boggled Coriander

  • Lochage
  • *****
  • Posts: 545
    • Balancing Frogs
Reply #5 on: April 01, 2010, 06:40:21 AM
Damn fine opening sentence.  Damn fine everything else too, really.

"The meteor formed a crater, vampires crawling out of the crater." -  The Lyttle Lytton contest


Listener

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 3187
  • I place things in locations which later elude me.
    • Various and Sundry Items of Interest
Reply #6 on: April 01, 2010, 01:18:59 PM
The writing was great, and the story was compelling, and I didn't expect that they would actually end up in hell and it would be part of the story.

But really this was just "the birth of unions" mixed with "fantasy/horror character types". I guess the reason I liked it more than "Diary of a Beast's Life" is because I thought the writing was better and the story was more interesting (and had more action in it).

It did drag in places, especially during the expository bits, but that's okay. My only real problem was with the ages of the characters -- and maybe that's because I know the reader is an adult and doesn't sound like a teenager. But then, maybe on that world, adulthood is both physical and mental at 13, not 18.

"Farts are a hug you can smell." -Wil Wheaton

Blog || Quote Blog ||  Written and Audio Work || Twitter: @listener42


Morgan le Fay

  • Extern
  • *
  • Posts: 2
Reply #7 on: April 02, 2010, 03:47:47 AM
Awesome Story! This really was a pleasure to listen to and the narration was so good. I could really understand what the main character was feeling by the way the narrator spoke.. I also loved the little plot twist at the end. All around great story. I hope there are more like this on on the way,



Talia

  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 2682
  • Muahahahaha
Reply #8 on: April 02, 2010, 12:31:48 PM
Hah, definitely hooked from that very first opening sentence (although I was vaguely unprepared for it and it did gross me out just a bit.. hehe).

[Spoilers]

I didn't expect them all to die at the end. You don't hear too many stories that end that way :p So that was an interesting turn of events. :p

I liked how the story treated fantastical elements casually, and elements of the world's religious beliefs were mentioned almost as an aside. For me that made the voice of the narrator very believable, because what's fantasy to us is just everyday to him.

All around good times. Kudos to all.



Unblinking

  • Sir Postsalot
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 8729
    • Diabolical Plots
Reply #9 on: April 02, 2010, 01:33:04 PM
If this is the sort of thing in the "original" stack, I hope to see more from it!  And I'm not just saying that because I've submitted unpublished stories from time to time.  ;)

Really, very outstanding.  Like Listener said, it was an obvious parallel to real life like Diary of a Beast's Life, but this one worked for me.  The fantasy details mattered and with those elements it was able to become more than "just" a union formation story. 

Did anyone else get some memory associations with Cool Hand Luke?  Some of the scenes with the new guy reminded me a bit of Luke.  And I do love that movie.



Scattercat

  • Caution:
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 4904
  • Amateur wordsmith
    • Mirrorshards
Reply #10 on: April 02, 2010, 07:18:44 PM
I enjoyed this one a lot.  Put another mark in the "Awesome title that isn't ruined by the actual story" column. 

I like a good union/company town story.  I kind of wish it had gone a little further from the real world; I was initially confused about whether this was supposed to be an alternate Earth, a future Earth, or a wholly imaginary world.  The use of words like "whiskey" and "foreman" in particular were a little disorienting in that respect.

Otherwise, solid marks.  I enjoyed the ending quite a lot; I was expecting the Green Devil to be all on their side and not actually evil.  I approve of having the religion be accurate and the Devil be evil, but still maintaining the hopeful note. 



ruth_dt

  • Extern
  • *
  • Posts: 1
Reply #11 on: April 03, 2010, 10:07:19 AM
This story puzzled me a bit.  I found myself trying too hard work out what sort of world it was supposed to be - it was obviously not in an earth-like place, with two suns and goblins etc.  But they refer to themselves as human, despite the green blood, and they have whisky and know The Red Flag. Is this the far future? An alternative history? A magical realm? Or a long time ago in a galaxy far away?  The more detail that went into the world, the more puzzled I got by it.

I guess I found myself needing to put the workers' struggle put into some kind of political context.  That's where the real story is in any kind of dispute.  Any strike is the end of a story, rather than in itself being the story.  How did the workers end up in this terrible condition in the first place?  Why did families need to sign into contracts in the first place?  Who is this Company, and, if they run everything, who do they sell to?

On the subject of distracting details, do you sing The Red Flag to another tune in the States? In Europe it's usually sung to O Tannenbaum.  Was the reader singing it to a familiar tune, or making one up for this new world?  Or is it possible that the reader had not heard The Red Flag sung?  I understand there's a rather different attitude to Socialism in the States!



stePH

  • Actually has enough cowbell.
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 3906
  • Cool story, bro!
    • Thetatr0n on SoundCloud
Reply #12 on: April 03, 2010, 03:10:05 PM
I enjoyed this story. 

Also while listening, the thought occurred to me that the story could have just as easily run on PseudoPod, and I found myself pondering that ever since PodCastle was established, both EP and PC now have their own, non-overlapping territories... but PP can still take certain stories from either one.

"Nerdcore is like playing Halo while getting a blow-job from Hello Kitty."
-- some guy interviewed in Nerdcore Rising


Scattercat

  • Caution:
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 4904
  • Amateur wordsmith
    • Mirrorshards
Reply #13 on: April 03, 2010, 03:49:57 PM
I think that's part of the nature of the genres.  Scifi and fantasy both have a lot of furniture; magic is fantasy and can't be scifi, and technology is science and can't be fantasy, etc.  You can have elements of both, of course, but those tend to be outliers, with the majority of the data points falling more or less under one of the two bell curves.

Horror, on the other hand, is more about the tone than the trappings.  You can have scifi horror, fantasy horror, historical horror, real-world horror, etc.  It's a way of writing and a purpose for writing rather than any particular set of elements.

I don't know that this would have fit quite as well on PP; for all that it ends literally in hellfire and damnation, it's really rather hopeful at the end...



stePH

  • Actually has enough cowbell.
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 3906
  • Cool story, bro!
    • Thetatr0n on SoundCloud
Reply #14 on: April 03, 2010, 05:22:34 PM
I don't know that this would have fit quite as well on PP; for all that it ends literally in hellfire and damnation, it's really rather hopeful at the end...

Not all the PseudoPod stories have ended on a down note, for all their horrific elements.

And I just remembered thinking last week's PP "Oded the Merciless" would not have been out of place on Escape Pod (though would have certainly had an "R" rating at the least, for disturbing violent content)

"Nerdcore is like playing Halo while getting a blow-job from Hello Kitty."
-- some guy interviewed in Nerdcore Rising


alllie

  • Matross
  • ****
  • Posts: 174
    • alllieblog
Reply #15 on: April 03, 2010, 09:32:22 PM
I really liked this story. I yearn for scifi and fantasy stories with a leftie tilt. This one about a labor union was great. I have been exposed to so few stories about the heroic struggle for labor rights so it made me happy to see one.

I'm working my way through China Miéville's Fifty Fantasy & Science Fiction Works That Socialists Should Read. I've been surprised at how many early science fiction authors were socialists. I just finished Jack London's The Iron Heel. It is arguably the novel in which Jack London's socialist views are most explicitly on display. Generally considered to be "the earliest of the modern Dystopian" novels it chronicles the rise of an oligarchic class in the United States.

Disclaimer: I'm a social democrat myself. I think what works best is regulated capitalism mixed with limited socialism and with a strong social safety net.



stePH

  • Actually has enough cowbell.
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 3906
  • Cool story, bro!
    • Thetatr0n on SoundCloud
Reply #16 on: April 04, 2010, 04:16:51 AM
On the subject of distracting details, do you sing The Red Flag to another tune in the States? In Europe it's usually sung to O Tannenbaum.  Was the reader singing it to a familiar tune, or making one up for this new world?  Or is it possible that the reader had not heard The Red Flag sung?  I understand there's a rather different attitude to Socialism in the States!

I'd never heard of the song before.  In my own head I have something halfway between the tune of "Jerusalem" and the intro to Blue Öyster Cult's "Golden Age of Leather".

"Nerdcore is like playing Halo while getting a blow-job from Hello Kitty."
-- some guy interviewed in Nerdcore Rising


alllie

  • Matross
  • ****
  • Posts: 174
    • alllieblog
Reply #17 on: April 04, 2010, 11:24:31 AM
On the subject of distracting details, do you sing The Red Flag to another tune in the States? In Europe it's usually sung to O Tannenbaum.  Was the reader singing it to a familiar tune, or making one up for this new world?  Or is it possible that the reader had not heard The Red Flag sung?  I understand there's a rather different attitude to Socialism in the States!

I'd never heard of the song before.  In my own head I have something halfway between the tune of "Jerusalem" and the intro to Blue Öyster Cult's "Golden Age of Leather".

Here is Billy Bragg's version of Red Flag sung to O Tannenbaun. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhmfQhtszf0



coughcool

  • Extern
  • *
  • Posts: 1
Reply #18 on: April 04, 2010, 06:01:11 PM
Wow great story. It was nice to hear a positive story on workers rights and the struggles to get those rights. Defiantly one of the better stories I have heard on Escapepod. Thank You  :)



Anarquistador

  • Matross
  • ****
  • Posts: 267
  • Servant of Fire
    • The Pit
Reply #19 on: April 05, 2010, 04:58:33 PM
We don't sing The Red Flag in the United States. We can't have that sort of Commie stuff in our fine land of capitalism.

/sarcasm

Neat story, like a proletariat fairy tale. If Marxism had developed its own mythic cycle, this would probably be part of it. Our heroes are frustrated veterans and common line workers. The foremen are soulless collaborators, the security force are vampires, and the Devil is a capitalist fatcat with a trophy wife. Clearly a lot of thought went into this world.

Would you classify this as steampunk, do you think?

"Technology: a word we use to describe something that doesn't work yet."

- Douglas Adams

http://www.thereviewpit.com
http://thesuburbsofhell.blogspot.com


Ben Phillips

  • Lich King
  • Matross
  • ****
  • Posts: 299
    • Pseudopod
Reply #20 on: April 05, 2010, 09:36:26 PM
On the subject of distracting details, do you sing The Red Flag to another tune in the States?

I do, in fact, plead ignorance of the proper tune, in no small part because I hold no truck with commie mutant traitors or their disestablishmentarian "music".  Fnord!



Scattercat

  • Caution:
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 4904
  • Amateur wordsmith
    • Mirrorshards
Reply #21 on: April 06, 2010, 12:44:10 AM
Even knowing that there IS a tune for "The Red Flag" is treason.  Friend Computer has been informed.



Unblinking

  • Sir Postsalot
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 8729
    • Diabolical Plots
Reply #22 on: April 06, 2010, 01:31:43 PM
I had no idea there was an actual song, so I don't envy the task of trying to sing a song you've never heard.  :)



Listener

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 3187
  • I place things in locations which later elude me.
    • Various and Sundry Items of Interest
Reply #23 on: April 06, 2010, 01:45:23 PM
I had no idea there was an actual song, so I don't envy the task of trying to sing a song you've never heard.  :)

I bet I would've tried to do it like the song Picard sang in "Alleigance". http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Allegiance_%28episode%29

"Farts are a hug you can smell." -Wil Wheaton

Blog || Quote Blog ||  Written and Audio Work || Twitter: @listener42


alllie

  • Matross
  • ****
  • Posts: 174
    • alllieblog
Reply #24 on: April 06, 2010, 02:07:10 PM
I had no idea there was an actual song, so I don't envy the task of trying to sing a song you've never heard.  :)

I bet I would've tried to do it like the song Picard sang in "Alleigance". http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Allegiance_%28episode%29

You mean this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zky2n0-zZs#t=1m13s



merryoldsoul

  • Extern
  • *
  • Posts: 12
Reply #25 on: April 07, 2010, 09:12:28 AM
this was a great story, well read. i think we'll be importing from the goblins soon whilst condemning their human rights record....anyone see any modern comparisons?!

it's amazing that theres a whole part of the world that's never heard the Red Flag; so entrenched in british society that it's still sung at the end of each Labour Party conference, and given their politics it becomes more ironic each time.



Anarquistador

  • Matross
  • ****
  • Posts: 267
  • Servant of Fire
    • The Pit
Reply #26 on: April 08, 2010, 12:44:53 AM
it's amazing that theres a whole part of the world that's never heard the Red Flag; so entrenched in british society that it's still sung at the end of each Labour Party conference, and given their politics it becomes more ironic each time.

Well, organized labor never acquired the same level of formal political power in the States as it did in other parts of the world. Having the Soviet Union be our enemies for the better part of a century made it impossible for socialism to gain any real foothold on this side of the Pond. People still get riled up by the very hint of such a thing...which is a whole 'nother argument.

"Technology: a word we use to describe something that doesn't work yet."

- Douglas Adams

http://www.thereviewpit.com
http://thesuburbsofhell.blogspot.com


Heradel

  • Bill Peters, EP Assistant
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 2938
  • Part-Time Psychopomp.
Reply #27 on: April 08, 2010, 03:31:05 AM
it's amazing that theres a whole part of the world that's never heard the Red Flag; so entrenched in british society that it's still sung at the end of each Labour Party conference, and given their politics it becomes more ironic each time.

Well, organized labor never acquired the same level of formal political power in the States as it did in other parts of the world. Having the Soviet Union be our enemies for the better part of a century made it impossible for socialism to gain any real foothold on this side of the Pond. People still get riled up by the very hint of such a thing...which is a whole 'nother argument.

Well, some people. Socialism has lost a lot of it's stigma among the younger segments of the population, but the last polling I saw on it was pre-tea party.

And I'd argue the US labour movement had an amount of power that equalled most others after the depression, but it's been lost over the last few decades.
« Last Edit: April 13, 2010, 09:52:16 PM by Heradel »

I Twitter. I also occasionally blog on the Escape Pod blog, which if you're here you shouldn't have much trouble finding.


Listener

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 3187
  • I place things in locations which later elude me.
    • Various and Sundry Items of Interest
Reply #28 on: April 08, 2010, 02:25:30 PM
I had no idea there was an actual song, so I don't envy the task of trying to sing a song you've never heard.  :)

I bet I would've tried to do it like the song Picard sang in "Alleigance". http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Allegiance_%28episode%29

You mean this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zky2n0-zZs#t=1m13s

Exactly.

"Farts are a hug you can smell." -Wil Wheaton

Blog || Quote Blog ||  Written and Audio Work || Twitter: @listener42


danooli

  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 1745
    • Who Doesn't Love Stories?
Reply #29 on: April 08, 2010, 09:14:16 PM
wow, i really liked this story!  i am left wanting LOTS more from this world, but, i'm also left wanting more from the narrator.  too bad he's with the green devil!

i was also thrilled that the narrator used the tune to Billy Bragg's "The Internationale" :)  That album was a standard for me during college  Rather formative  8)



jay daze

  • Extern
  • *
  • Posts: 12
Reply #30 on: April 10, 2010, 11:26:09 PM
Excellent!  I finished listening to this one with a big grin on my face.

spoiler thoughts:




Wait a minute!  He can't be narrating this, I don't believe in an after-life!

Wait a minute!  I don't believe in goblins and vampires!

Oh, but now I do believe in goblins and vampires and Green Devils... So this story is great!


(And it honours the fate of real workers throughout history struggling for their right.)



kibitzer

  • Purveyor of Unsolicited Opinions
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 2228
  • Kibitzer: A meddler who offers unwanted advice
Reply #31 on: April 11, 2010, 01:12:26 AM
I found the ending a bit lame, actually. It wasn't that it doesn't fit with the story, just that it doesn't need to be there at all. It would have been more ironically realistic.

But, it certainly didn't ruin an enjoyable story. And, another great reading by The Dark One himself.


Allie

  • Extern
  • *
  • Posts: 11
  • Mapmaker / Weather Chaser
    • Twitterer
Reply #32 on: April 12, 2010, 10:55:14 PM
This has got to be one of my favorites! I should have seen that ending coming, but I was so impressed with the telling that I was completely immersed in the story as it was unfolding. Home Run!
On a side note, I hear my own bang, clang, whoosh noise at work. Not bad enough to revolt... that sort of trouble is what got me sent down here in the first place  :P



avocado

  • Extern
  • *
  • Posts: 10
  • I fought the lore, and the lore won
Reply #33 on: April 13, 2010, 02:47:44 AM
Would you classify this as steampunk, do you think?

I would.  They're doing factory work with magic.  The tech level seems to be roughly that of Victorian England.  The human society we see is based on the Irish working class.  Bonus points for the presence of airships.

As far as factory work and magic go, I think people who really liked this story might want to look for Michael Swanwick's The Iron Dragon's Daughter.  Just expect grimness.



Ocicat

  • Castle Watchcat
  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 3722
  • Anything for a Weird Life
Reply #34 on: April 13, 2010, 06:26:31 AM
Bonus points for the presence of airships.

I'm not sure it's possible to write a story with airships right now and *not* have it get classified as Steampunk...



avocado

  • Extern
  • *
  • Posts: 10
  • I fought the lore, and the lore won
Reply #35 on: April 13, 2010, 10:22:12 AM
Bonus points for the presence of airships.

I'm not sure it's possible to write a story with airships right now and *not* have it get classified as Steampunk...

Maybe if you pushed the tech level and the chronology far enough forward.  But yeah, it would take some doing.



Boggled Coriander

  • Lochage
  • *****
  • Posts: 545
    • Balancing Frogs
Reply #36 on: April 13, 2010, 11:27:39 AM
Bonus points for the presence of airships.

I'm not sure it's possible to write a story with airships right now and *not* have it get classified as Steampunk...

Maybe if you pushed the tech level and the chronology far enough forward.  But yeah, it would take some doing.

Stephenson's The Diamond Age?  Or does that book count as unusually high-tech Steampunk? 

"The meteor formed a crater, vampires crawling out of the crater." -  The Lyttle Lytton contest


Listener

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 3187
  • I place things in locations which later elude me.
    • Various and Sundry Items of Interest
Reply #37 on: April 13, 2010, 03:30:10 PM
Bonus points for the presence of airships.

I'm not sure it's possible to write a story with airships right now and *not* have it get classified as Steampunk...

Maybe if you pushed the tech level and the chronology far enough forward.  But yeah, it would take some doing.

Stephenson's The Diamond Age?  Or does that book count as unusually high-tech Steampunk? 

Gempunk? :)

"Farts are a hug you can smell." -Wil Wheaton

Blog || Quote Blog ||  Written and Audio Work || Twitter: @listener42


stePH

  • Actually has enough cowbell.
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 3906
  • Cool story, bro!
    • Thetatr0n on SoundCloud
Reply #38 on: April 13, 2010, 08:43:44 PM
Bonus points for the presence of airships.

I'm not sure it's possible to write a story with airships right now and *not* have it get classified as Steampunk...

Then most of Hayao Miyazaki's movies are "steampunk" including Kiki's Delivery Service  ;D

"Nerdcore is like playing Halo while getting a blow-job from Hello Kitty."
-- some guy interviewed in Nerdcore Rising


Gamercow

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 654
Reply #39 on: April 24, 2010, 01:53:50 AM
Wow, wow, wow.  I adored this story, and the narration.  I've sent a link to my Socialist friends, indicating that they would probably like the story, without giving away the plot.  I had been waiting for a story like this for a couple of weeks now, I hadn't really gotten into a podcastle story since Hereward and Mr. Fitz.  But again, like Hereward and Fitz, we are presented with a superb, well imagined world where the uniqueness isn't poured on us like a bottle of cheap whisky, but given to us drops at a time.  And done so by a truly excellent reader. 

The cow says "Mooooooooo"


Eliyanna Kaiser

  • Matross
  • ****
  • Posts: 236
    • Just Another Writer
Reply #40 on: May 05, 2010, 04:44:17 PM
I found the ending a bit lame, actually. It wasn't that it doesn't fit with the story, just that it doesn't need to be there at all. It would have been more ironically realistic.

I disagree on the ending; it was perfect. Early on in the story, the main character was promised by his oppressors that he would be with his father in the afterlife and they'd have all the time in the hereafter to get to know one another.

This is a classic communist critique of the way capitalism uses religion to control the working class: that you struggle in this life because you are rewarded in the next one. (I'm sorta an aficionado of such things...)

There's a very famous song called "The Preacher and the Slave" written by IWW unionist Joe Hill, who was (wait for it) tried and executed in 1915 by firing squad for murdering a police officer in Utah. The song is a parody of the Christian hymn "In the Sweet Bye and Bye."

Here's the chorus [call and response style, the response is in square brackets]:

You will eat [You will eat] bye and bye [bye and bye]
In that glorious land above the sky [Way up high]
Work and pray [Work and pray] live on hay [live on hay]
You'll get pie in the sky when you die [That's a lie!]


Here's a link to a YouTube cover of the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca_MEJmuzMM

If you must mount the gallows, give a jest to the crowd, a coin to the hangman, and make the drop with a smile on your lips.
-Birgitte, R. Jordan's Wheel of Time