“The Ballad of the Triangle Fire” Sheet Music (pdf).
“The Ballad of the Triangle Fire” Karaoke (midi with lyrics).
Lyrics: Ruth Rubin.
Tune: Ruth Rubin.
In the heart of New York City near Washington Square,
In 1911, March winds were cold and bare.
A fire broke out in a building ten stories high.
And 146 young girls in those flames did die.
On the top floor of that building, ten stories in the air,
Those young girls were working in an old sweatshop there.
They were sewing shirtwaists for a very low wage.
So tired and pale and worn-out they were at a tender age.
The sweatshop was a stuffy room with but a single door.
The windows, they were gray with lint from off that dusty floor.
There were no comforts, no fresh air, no light to sew thereby.
And the girls, they toiled from early morn ’til darkness filled the sky.
On that fateful day, dear God, the most terrible of days,
When that big fire broke out, it grew to a mighty blaze!
And in that firetrap away up there with but a single door,
So many innocent working girls burned to live no more.
A hundred thousand mourners, they followed those sad biers.
The streets were filled with people a-weeping bitter tears.
Poets, writers everywhere described that awful pyre
When those young girls were trapped to die in the Triangle Fire.