Hard Hat Gospel

I lace up before the sun

Hard hat still marked with sweat

Climb that pole like a prayer

With climbing gaffs ready to get

I.B.E.W. on my back

1547 on my chest

If the storm wants to test me

I’ll meet it with the rest

Hands raw, eyes sharp

Lines hum in the rain

One bad splice can black out

Half a county in pain

So I check it twice

Then I check it again

I.B.E.W. 1547

We pull the dark apart

I.B.E.W. 1547

Union work, iron heart

(iron heart)

When the wires start singing

We stand and we go

I.B.E.W. 1547

That’s the road I know

I’m a union electrician

With a tool belt worn thin

I run conduit through the cold

And I grin when the sparks begin

I’m a communication hand

Laying fiber line, knee-deep mud

Splicing truth through the noise

With a scarred-up pair of gloves

Crew on the tailgate

Coffee gone black

Mud on the boots

No looking back

From the service yard

To the ridge-line bend

We earn every mile

And we make it mend

I.B.E.W. 1547

We pull the dark apart

I.B.E.W. 1547

Union work, iron heart

(iron heart)

When the wires start singing

We stand and we go

I.B.E.W. 1547

That’s the road I know

Thunder on the tin roof

Wind at the gate

We don’t fold easy

We don’t run from fate

From the first snapped pin

To the last switched phase

We built this backbone

In the hard-earned haze

I.B.E.W. 1547

We pull the dark apart

I.B.E.W. 1547

Union work, iron heart

(iron heart)

When the wires start singing

We stand and we go

I.B.E.W. 1547

That’s the road I know