Hamlet Chicken Plant Disaster

Down in Hamlet, North Carolina

They had a chicken plant sure did explode

Them tar heels trapped like burnin' rats

Cuz the boss man chained the door closed

My mama was born in

A town called Hamlet

Sleepy little place on the Seaboard line

My papa worked on the railroad

And my granny went out her mind

One day the railroad

It went busted

Like Richmond County ain't broke enough

So this Yankee carpetbagger

Figured to make a little money on Hamlet's bad luck

Built a brand new chicken fixin' plant

And they paid that minimum wage

But the boss man said no unions

Or he'd move his plant far away

Merele Etta Johnson

She was late for work

Heard a thunderin' roar out on the highway

Musta been NASCAR over at Rockingham

Or just Merle Etta's judgment day

8:15 in the mornin'

Chicken plant burst into flames

People trampled, squashed and burned up

Just to keep the profit margin

One iota higher

Everybody gotta work in this world

Some folks lucky-some folks ain't

But that bastard that chained the doors shut

I'm gonna rip him through p!

When I was a little boy

With a buzzsaw hair cut

Go down to Hamlet, watch the trains

Now the tourists stop on the highway

Get a little look at the chicken plant workers' remains