The Burning Of The Grand Republic

(album: No End Of Love - 1996)

Last night, at eleven-thirty
At the foot of Les Peres Street
The pride and wonder of the western river
Burned to the water's edge

Calendar length, and calendar width
And twelve feet down the hole
Once carried 8,210 bales of cotton

A man came running at break-neck speed
Over the road past the dog pound
Out of breath he found a policeman on Dekalb corner
And he quickly turned in the alarm

The sidewheel steamer, the Grand Republic
Was laid up for the summer
The iron-hulled steamer, Carondolet
Was tied up just outside

The watchman woke when he heard the flames
The bedding, carpets, and painted railings
Two ladies woke up, much too late
To save the Grand Republic

In a roar of horses, fire department rushed down to the river
The sky was flowing fleecy clouds turning to vermillion
Even trees on the Illinois shore stood out in bold relief
And a single glance told everyone, nothing they could do

The lightning fingers of thirsty flames
On layer, one layer of dried out paint
Until the grease-wood curled out of the windows
Eating their way to the roof

The Grand Republic was beautiful
As well as valuable and practical
It was even more spectacular
In a royal robe of flames

And the fire destroyed the Carondolet
As it added to the terror
The red flare had a brilliance
That made the moonlight green

Hissing and crackling this funeral fire
Road the water like a swan
One more agonized moment
And the pilot house toppled on

A million sparks rose in the air
Some of them, gone forever
A reporter from the Globe Democrat said
It was like daylight for a mile

And the crowd down on the levee
Stood as long as they could dare
Which was not very
And by 12:30, the fire had done its work

By this late hour, they tried to find
Thorwegan, the Captain of Grand Republic
But he was nowhere to be found

This morning her hull lies black
With her engines melted down
And the twisted fleeting fingers
Are in the river where she lay

At the foot of Les Peres Street
The Pride of the Mississippi
The sidewheel steamboat, Grand Republic
Has burned to the water's edge