Paul Gross

Robert Mackenzie
32 men on a Great Lakes boat
Quit the pier at Thunder Bay
28, 000 tons of coal
On a cold November day
800 feet and 10 more long
80 feet across
The steel mills of Detroit
Our destination through the frost

At 2 AM on the 2nd
Waves were runnin' up to 40 feet
Winds were blowing 60 miles
Our engines crankin' heat
At 3: 13 we took a wave
Our wheelhouse left behind
The radar slipped beneath the waves
And we were runnin' blind
Hear me call across the waves
If I don't come home tonight
I will make it home some day

CHORUS:

(Steel boats and iron men)
32 down on the Robert Mackenzie
(Steel boats and iron men)
32 down on the Robert Mackenzie
(Steel boats and iron men)
32 down on the Robert Mackenzie

A captain name of Phillips
Seekin' shelter from the storm
Turned us south of Bête Grise Bay
By way of Keewenaw point
But the wind was pushin' at such a rate
We ended up driftin' north
A wave broke over a knife of rock
Six Fathom Shoal

Mackenzie she was cut in half
The stern, she rammed the bow
The men were caught in metal jaws
And the flames burned out of hell
The stern kept running, all her lights ablaze
Not one man would be found
Captain's last transmission read
32 men down
32 men down

Hear me call across the waves
If I don't come home tonight
I will make it home someday

(Steel boats and iron men)
32 down on the Robert Mackenzie
(Steel boats and iron men)
32 down on the Robert Mackenzie
(Steel boats and iron men)
32 down on the Robert Mackenzie
Down Down Down Down Down Down Down Down

And they call across the waves
If I don't come home tonight
I will make it home someday

Yes, I call across the waves
If I don´t come home tonight
I will make it home some day