Okay, Bob.
Found the song, and I've transcribed it as best as I could. It's performed by Gary McGath on his Shrink Wrap Blues tape. Let me know if you'd want to hear a copy - I'm going to make a digital file for my archives.
Soul of the Steel
Music and lyrics: B. J. Willinger
Chorus:
I am the soul of the steel.
The mind and heart of man have made me real.
Although I started life just a fragment of the earth,
The fire and arm of man now give me birth.
My life with man began when [the Gupta]* found a stone,
Hard-forged by fiery passage through the sky.
And once a thing was seen, and an idea had grown,
To make his own star-metal he would try.
And so he tried, and then his sons, and then their sons again,
Til the smelter's molten drops became a flood.
The first shape was the knife, and the second was the sword.
The first of my forge-quenchings were in blood.
Chorus
A thousand years of war, then at last a time of peace,
Another man discovered my great worth.
For if I'd make a blade to cut the flesh of man,
I'd make a blade to cut the flesh of earth.
And men would plow, and men would sow, and men would reap the grain,
To make the bread that graced their daily meal.
And gathered in their homes, they would break the bread of peace,
And say a prayer of thanks to Earth for steel.
Chorus
Millennia have gone, intermingling peace and war,
My life with man increased a million-fold.
Steel sometimes shaped for good, then at other times for ill,
I did not judge; 'twas man who cast the mold.
Yet man survived my crushing strength when I was Death's machines,
And taught my dense and weighty form to fly.
And now a starship's hull, I am launched beyond the Earth,
As man returns star-metal to the sky.
Chorus
*I'm not certain of this part of the transcription. It doesn't sound quite right, but I honestly cannot make it out any clearer. Given that steelmaking apparently started in India during the Gupta dynasty, I decided to go with this, since it at least sounds close and makes sense in context. If anyone listens to the song and can make out what this is supposed to be, I would appreciate knowing. Thanks.
Hope this works for you. It certainly seems to be at least a possible candidate.
--Feinan
Found the song, and I've transcribed it as best as I could. It's performed by Gary McGath on his Shrink Wrap Blues tape. Let me know if you'd want to hear a copy - I'm going to make a digital file for my archives.
Soul of the Steel
Music and lyrics: B. J. Willinger
Chorus:
I am the soul of the steel.
The mind and heart of man have made me real.
Although I started life just a fragment of the earth,
The fire and arm of man now give me birth.
My life with man began when [the Gupta]* found a stone,
Hard-forged by fiery passage through the sky.
And once a thing was seen, and an idea had grown,
To make his own star-metal he would try.
And so he tried, and then his sons, and then their sons again,
Til the smelter's molten drops became a flood.
The first shape was the knife, and the second was the sword.
The first of my forge-quenchings were in blood.
Chorus
A thousand years of war, then at last a time of peace,
Another man discovered my great worth.
For if I'd make a blade to cut the flesh of man,
I'd make a blade to cut the flesh of earth.
And men would plow, and men would sow, and men would reap the grain,
To make the bread that graced their daily meal.
And gathered in their homes, they would break the bread of peace,
And say a prayer of thanks to Earth for steel.
Chorus
Millennia have gone, intermingling peace and war,
My life with man increased a million-fold.
Steel sometimes shaped for good, then at other times for ill,
I did not judge; 'twas man who cast the mold.
Yet man survived my crushing strength when I was Death's machines,
And taught my dense and weighty form to fly.
And now a starship's hull, I am launched beyond the Earth,
As man returns star-metal to the sky.
Chorus
*I'm not certain of this part of the transcription. It doesn't sound quite right, but I honestly cannot make it out any clearer. Given that steelmaking apparently started in India during the Gupta dynasty, I decided to go with this, since it at least sounds close and makes sense in context. If anyone listens to the song and can make out what this is supposed to be, I would appreciate knowing. Thanks.
Hope this works for you. It certainly seems to be at least a possible candidate.
--Feinan