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The West Valley Blues

from Roger Manning (RM1 make​-​under) by Roger Manning

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lyrics

i come from a town in erie county
across the cattauragus creek is west valley
where there's trees, cows, and barns
and in field of green
getty oil built the tallest chimney i'd ever seen

my father took pictures for folks all around
sometimes the guys down at the chimney invited him down
he said the name of the place was "nuclear fuels"
for them he took pictures of secret nuclear tools

governor rockefeller came through our town
he dressed real humble, shook hands all around
he'd of had us believe that the place was safe and worthwhile
i'd like to of seen him work there and keep up that smile

after some time they had to close the place down
never knew that much about it while i lived in my town
a few years later
many miles away
i read that it wasn't over back in west valley

for years they'd made money reprocessing nuclear fuels
and with the land they made money burying old work clothes and tools
"low level waste", that's what it is called
radioactive shitpiles (junkpiles) in fields by the chimney so tall

the rain it did fall and the water did flow
the waste seeped into the valley below
you'd see scientists on back roads driving around
they were testing the creek and testing the ground

springville, ny
in erie county
across the cattauragus creek is west valley
cattauragus is indian for "smelly banks"
back then it was natural gas
now it's west valley waste

the smelly banks
they sure do reek
of politicians and poisons so deep
and of ignorance and lies of deceit
getty oil's carelessness laid at our feet

my father, he died of a cancer rare
as probably will others who lived and worked around there
and yeah, ya can't help but wonder if he did, and they, and I will too
die from the poisons of west valley's nuclear fuels.

Oct. 1990 on WSPQ Springville NY with Fred Haier.

credits

from Roger Manning (RM1 make​-​under), released August 24, 2015

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Roger Manning New York, New York

The first Roger Manning album was released by California punk recording label SST (Black Flag, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr.). I toured the US and occasionally bits of Europe for over 10 years performing wordy-solo-rock accompanied by bass-heavy amplified 'acoustic' guitar. There's been a bit of re-emergence since 2007 and the album release in December 2014. ... more

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