Iron Mike

On a starry black night
At the base of mount hogen
Beyond horsetail creek
And Anderson bay

From the port of Valdez
Sailed a ship bound for Long Beach
Over one million barrels of crude stowed away
To the left of the wheel
In the bridge on the upper deck
Under the compass was he
Navigation computer
The captain and fisherman's friend
Who could steer perfectly

They called him Iron Mike
In the dead of the night
He steered the way through the darkness
Iron Mike, didn’t see the red light on the reef

Now the skipper had twenty years sailing with Exxon
He'd been known to throw back one or two
Yet no one thought twice when he set auto-pilot
And retired below with the crew

From the two AM stillness
Came the cry of the third mate
Someone better go wake up the chief
Yet by then, it was too late
The starboard tanks had twelve-foot gashes cut out by Bligh Reef

Iron Mike
In the dead of the night
He steered the way through the darkness
Iron Mike, didn't see the red light on the reef, on the reef

The forget-me-knots cried and the salmon all died
And the fishermen wore black arm bands
And the spokesmen from Exxon
Said no major damage
Though six million gallons remain in the sands

And from rocky point down
To mount Freemantle you can still see
The black film on the soil
And the echos rebound
Throughout Prince William Sound
Of the half frozen animals choking in oil

Iron Mike
In the dead of the night
He steered the way through the darkness
Iron Mike, didn’t see the red light on the reef

Who's at the helm of this ship of state
We're in for some rough navigation
We have the power, The hour is late
Gotta get tough and clean up the nation

On the first of the year
South of Governor's Island
In the waterway called Arthur Kill
Black Rainbows of Exxon
Like Grayed again flowed like hot fudge
In a big Apple spill

The detection machine had malfunctioed quite often
Repair procedures so hard to enforce
And down on Paul's Island
The cleanup begins and the horror continues
Till we chart our own course

Iron Mike
It's the dead of the night
He can steer the way through the darkness
Iron Mike, must see the light for relief, for relief, for relief, for relief