The Day It Fell Apart

Just a little general hospital, in a little factory town
The board put me in charge for mainly keeping prices down
I hadn't touched a patient since 1982
But the day of the explosion I remembered what to do
At eleven in the morning, we all heard the factory blow
The blast took out the windows, and the shrapnel fell like snow
We could get no help from out of town for half a day or more
We had near a thousand casualties and beds for ninety-four

And can you keep your head, your backbone, or your heart?
We all found out the answer on the day it fell apart

It was worse than combat medicine; supplies were draining fast
Bandages ran out and antiseptics wouldn't last
I took all the able-bodied I could catch inside the door
And made them help the doctors to go scrounge supplies and more
I invented laws to tell them saying in such emergency
Forget your usual job and boss, your orders come from me
I sent the cops to commandeer anything in reach:
Food or disinfectant cloth or alcohol or bleach

The janitor ran cleanup squad, the cook maintained supplies
The garbageman removed the ones who died before our eyes
The clerks burned all our papers to boil water on the fire
For sterilizing instruments, as the body count went higher
A local healthfood herbalist brought everything he had
The painkillers were useful, and the poultices weren't bad
A smack and cocaine pusher handed us his whole supply
The quality was lousy, but a few more didn't die

We did triage in the parking lot, ranked minor, major, grave
A sad-eyed fireman gave the stroke to those we couldn't save
Then sometime in the chaos, a director wandered in
To tell us we were breaking rules, what trouble we'd be in
But if we'd swear the factory was not the fire's cause
And the harm was accidental, he'd forget the broken laws
The staff sneaked up and grabbed him, and tied him to a door
He gave them blood transfusions 'till he hadn't any more

When that day was over, and we'd saved all that we could
We saw that law and politics would hang us where we stood
We'd saved eight hundred lives but shattered all authority
I told them, "People, save yourselves, put all the blame on me."
I took my books and instruments, and a few supplies beside
Packed my car and ran away to open countryside
So now I live an outlaw, condemned by righteous men
But for all the lives I saved that day ... I'd do it all again

And can you keep your head, your backbone, or your heart?
You'll all find out the answers on the day it falls apart