Em D C-B7 From the red-legend country Em D C-B7 Comes a story told Em D C-B7 By both friends and strangers Em D Em Of Shelly Salo
She loved the wild and the green
She passed on her way
To work at the pits that the great machines
Make bigger every day
She handled heavy cables
That power the great machines
That gather up all of the rock
And the wild and green
With a partner, swing the cables into the "boat"
Skid them down to the great machines
Hang the cables on the pole
And never mind the wild and green
Side by side with the men she'd ride
Close her eyes to the wild and green
Just one of the boys, when in the employ
Of the great machine
One day the cable and the pole
That give life to the great machines
Did fall and cause the death of this one
Who loved the wild and green
At twenty-one she lies broken
In the mud from the great machine
At twenty-one she's gone, she's gone
Along with the wild and the green
Up at the "barn" it does go on
To the din of the great machines
There's lay-offs and firings, sick-days and hirings
And nothing wild and green
And for us in our quiet grief
In a way more felt than seen
We seek her here in all that lives
Wild and green
From the red-legend country
Comes a story told
By both friends and strangers
Of Shelly Salo
Shelly Salo, 1979.
Photo courtesy of Mark Salo.
Used by permission.