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<h6>Shades of Grey</h6>
Friend, you ever hear the tail of the Dan River coal ash spill<br />
At the Duke power plant that’d been shut down in North Caroline near Eden town<br />
Eden was heaven, the fishing was fine and the water was sweet as brandy wine<br />
Til a coal ash pond buried in the ground drained clear out cause a pipe broke down<br />
<br />
The toxic cocktail filled the water that the natives used to call the Otter<br />
With arsenic, mercury, and lead, and that’s fine for your batteries but not your head<br />
This sludge was nasty this muck was mean and it flowed for miles and miles downstream<br />
And there it sat five feet thick, Eden’s version of an oil slick<br />
<br />
Shades of gray, shades of gray, light and life just swept away<br />
Veiled in darkness and dismay, covered up by shades of gray<br />
<br />
The pipe that broke was antiquated but it just sat there unabated<br />
The regulators let it slide cause the state execs were on Duke’s side<br />
See Duke’s a big power corporation, the biggest in the state, hell even the nation<br />
So they get what they want and they get it fast, they call their friends in Raleigh when they want a bill passed<br />
<br />
Shades of gray, shades of gray, light and life just swept away<br />
Veiled in darkness and dismay, covered up by shades of gray<br />
<br />
The powers that be gave a token fine, they said they’d make Duke tow the line<br />
But Duke’s got fourteen pools of waste scattered from east to west across the state<br />
And they don’t want to clean up their mess, they don’t care what’s best they just wanna spend less<br />
So they use their charm, say there ain’t no harm or cause for alarm with your home or your farm<br />
<br />
But I’m a North Carolinian and I’ve got an opinion, I’m a voice with a choice, boy, I ain’t some minion<br />
I’d rather not blink when I fetch a drink from my hose out back or my kitchen sink<br />
So I’ll tell my legislators I care about nature, I want it fixed now I don’t want it fixed late<br />
Cause I’m thinking if we don’t have our say we’ll all get lost in shades of gray<br />
<br />
Shades of gray, shades of gray, light and life just swept away<br />
Veiled in darkness and dismay, covered up by shades of gray<br />
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