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Firefighters_in_the_fight_against_forest

One Foot in the Black

A song inspired by (and written for) wildland firefighters, who bust ass every summer fighting forest fires that seem to get bigger and bigger every year.

 

 

 

Vi: It’s the second week of May,  the  grass is starting to turn

It 's six weeks since the last substantial rain

All around the west, the hills are starting to burn

This year it was California first once again

 

Every morning ‘round 8, the crews are running the hills

Doing jumping jacks and flipping tires

Thunderclouds on the horizon,  it’s just a matter of time

'Till we're out there on the lines fighting fire

 

Chorus

Put on your green and yellow and grab your favorite tool

They’ll be bringin’ round lunch in a paper sack

Put your head upon a swivel and keep improving the line

And always keep one foot in the black

 

VII: It may start with dry lightning on the edge of a cell

It may sleep in the duff for a day or two

The lookout calls in the smoke, they'll notify the FMO

And he’ll send out a twenty-person crew

 

So jump in the rigs and head out to the scene

Get out and take a good look around

Size up the fire, notify dispatch over the wire

We’re on the line with tools in the ground

 

Chorus

Put on your green and yellow and grab your favorite tool

They’ll be bringin’ round lunch in a paper sack

Keep your head on a swivel and keep improving the line

And always keep one foot in the black

 

Bridge

If those first lines they don’t hold, and the flame lengths start to grow

Sounds like a freight train at the top of the watershed

Then it’s time to call off the attack, and pull your forces back

And be safe when the dragon rears its head

​

'Cause a blowup took fourteen on Storm King in ‘94

Nineteen lost on an Arizona mountainside

So keep an eye out for each other remember your sisters and the brothers

Who didn’t make it out alive .....

 

Chorus

Put on your green and yellow and grab your favorite tool

They’ll be bringin’ round lunch in a paper sack

Put your head upon a swivel and keep improving the line

And always keep one foot in the black

​

(c) Jens Lovtang 2015

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