Send away your prayers
Hammer down the nails
Do the same tomorrow
A penny for your pain
Another mile of rails
Another unblessed day
Your back is bent, fingers hurt
Mouth is full of dirt

Over mountain and lakes so blue
We will take the iron mule
The railway must come through

Inch by inch, like a snail so slow
But soon the iron mule will glow
From the southern shores
To the harbors of the north

21 and old
Winter wind is cold
Lungs they bleed for the iron mule,
To make way for the new
Fever makes you weak, you cry yourself to sleep
Arms they keep on pounding on
Sledge it weighs a ton

Over mountain and lakes so blue
We will take the iron mule
In a year and a day,
The railway must come through

Inch by inch, like a snail so slow
But soon the iron mule will go
In sun and rain
From now and ever on