[Verse]
Smoke in the whistle veins of the rail
Steam murmurs secrets that history will veil
Stubborn wheels roll but never forget
Blood-soaked iron and old regret
[Verse 2]
Men with bayonets march to nowhere
Children in factories with dust woven hair
Freedom whispers from statues bound
Still the split nation staggers
Spellbound
[Chorus]
Oh land of shadow and land of steam
Build a future that splits the seam
Where the shackled past refuses to bend
Caught between the start and the end
[Bridge]
Factories pounding to the rhythm of grit
Sweat and hunger in fortunes split
Headlines screaming of golden decay
Dreamers dreaming the world away
[Verse 3]
Upturned soil and the worker's yoke
Through the crackling field where echoes spoke
Bones beneath now feed the roots deep
America rising where the brave weep
[Chorus]
Oh land of shadow and land of steam
Build a future that splits the seam
Where the shackled past refuses to bend
Caught between the start and the end