Way Down Hadestown II Lyrics > Hadestown

[HERMES]
Now in Hadestown there was a lot of souls

[COMPANY]
Low, keep your head, keep your head

[HERMES]
Working on the wall with all their might

[COMPANY]
Oh, you gotta keep your head

[HERMES]
You see, they kept their heads down low

[COMPANY]
If you wanna keep your head

[HERMES]
You couldn’t quite see their faces right
Oh, but you could hear them singing:

[COMPANY]
Low, keep your head, keep your head

[HERMES]
Swinging their hammers in the cold, hard ground
You could hear the sound of the pickaxe a-ringing

[COMPANY]
One! Two! If you wanna keep your head

[HERMES and COMPANY]
They called it “freedom”

[EURYDICE, spoken]
I’m free! We’re free!
Mr. Hades set us free!

[FATES (COMPANY)]
Mr. Hades set you free
To work yourself into the ground
Free to spend eternity
In the factory
And the warehouse
Where the whistles scream
And the foreman shouts
And you’re punchin' in
And punchin' in
And punchin' in
And you can’t punch out!

You're way down Hadestown (Oh, keep your head, keep your head low)
Way down Hadestown (Oh, you gotta keep your head low)
Way down Hadestown (If you wanna keep your head)
Way down under the ground!

[EURYDICE, spoken]
But I don’t understand... you said this was the promised land!

[FATES]
You sell your soul,
You get your due!
That is all we promised you!

Heard that mighty trumpet sound,
Crossed the river to the Other Side,
Thought you’d lay your burdens down
And rest in peace in Paradise
But there ain’t no rest for your weary soul
Hades keeps you toiling

[HADES & FATES]
Shoveling coal in a big black hole to keep his boiler boiling

[FATES (COMPANY)]
Way down Hadestown (Oh, keep your head, keep your head low)
Way down Hadestown (Oh, you gotta keep your head low)
Way down Hadestown (If you wanna keep your head)
Way down under the ground!

[EURYDICE, spoken]
But don’t you see?
It’s different with me!

[FATES, spoken]
Different than who? They thought they were different too!
[FATES]
Down in the river of oblivion
You kissed your little life goodbye
And Hades laid his hands on you
And gave you everlasting life!
And everlasting overtime
In the mine, the mill, and the machinery
Running his old assembly line
From Pluto to the Pleiades
[FATES (COMPANY)]
Way down Hadestown (Oh, keep your head, keep your head low)
Way down Hadestown (Oh, you gotta keep your head low)
Way down Hadestown (If you wanna keep your head)
Way down under the ground!

[EURYDICE, spoken]
[yelling] There must be some mistake!

[FATES, spoken]
Oh, it was a mistake alright!
And now you gotta pay-
And pay-
And pay for it, for the rest of your life!

[HERMES, spoken]
See, it’s like I said before: a lot can happen behind closed doors.
Eurydice was a hungry young girl, but she wasn’t hungry anymore.
What she was, instead, was dead-
Dead to the world, anyway.
See, she went behind those doors
And signed her life away.

[FATES]
Saw that wheel up in the sky
Heard the big bell tolling
A lot of souls have gotta die
To keep the Rust Belt rolling
A lot of spirits gotta break
To make the underworld go ‘round
(FATES & COMPANY)
Way down Hadestown
Way down under the ground!


Last Update: February, 26th 2019