Fire & Flame

[00:01.07] Let me sing you a song, boys, of fire and flame

[00:04.82] Of a French ammo ship, the Mont-Blanc was her name

[00:09.32] How the brave Nova Scotia was never the same

[00:14.32] On the morning when Halifax burned

[00:19.57] 'Twas in early December 1917

[00:23.81] She was packed to the gills with Grade-A TNT

[00:27.57] They were bound for the fighting in High Germany

[00:31.82] When towards them the other ship turned

[00:36.32] The Norwegian ship Imo, some fault in her gears

[00:39.82] She struck Mont-Blanc's side like the mightiest of spears

[00:44.07] And the benzol ignited, the captain's worst fears

[00:48.07] As the fire consumed bow to stern

[00:52.82] The people gazed on from their safe distant rooms

[00:56.32] Watched the soot and the smoke fill the sky with their plumes

[01:00.57] Though within, the ship's cargo would spell all their dooms

[01:04.82] How were they to know to be concerned?

[01:09.57] The crew rowed for shore lest they burn or they drown

[01:13.07] They cried "Save your souls!" as they ran through the town

[01:16.82] But their warnings were nothing but strange foreign sounds

[01:20.82] For the townsfolk, no French had they learned

[01:25.57] One man, Patrick Coleman, in the railway's employ

[01:29.07] Sent word "Stop the trains, or they'll all be destroyed!

[01:33.07] This will be my last message, farewell to you boys"

[01:37.57] For a true hero's death he had earned

[01:42.32] An explosion colossal when the munitions blew

[01:45.81] Devastation and debris for miles, fire through

[01:51.82] The Mont-Blanc was gone and the town with it, too

[01:55.57] And the waters raged up in return

[01:59.82] There were heroes and angels all fated to die

[02:03.82] Over 2000 souls laid to rest by-and-by

[02:09.07] We will always remember and lift a glass high

[02:15.57] To the morning when Halifax burned