Lyrics

It was probably cold on September 13th, on the Burlington Railroad Line.
An explosion was heard and a good man fell from an accident of the worst kind.
A foreman he was, a capable man, a favorite among his work crew,
But the dynamite blew just a little too soon and this good man?s tamping iron flew.
In through his cheek and out top his head,
Everyone watching thought for sure he was dead.
But he sat on the ground and he looked all around,
And he said?I won?t repeat what he said.

Phineas Gage was all the rage
He made the Boston Post front page
God bless the man with the iron in his hand
Building the railroad across this land.

The men found a doctor to treat his wounds as his body was starting to chill.
And in ten short weeks, the doctor sent him home, as Phineas was doing quite well.
But although he took his rest, the ones who knew him best saw changes that Phineas went through.
For as time passed by and he healed his wounds, the more difficult Phineas grew.
It was 1848 and everything would change,
For medical science and the study of the brain.
Because Harvard searched the land for the tamping iron man,
And they mapped his mind while Phineas went insane.

Phineas Gage was all the rage
He made the Boston Post front page
God bless the man with the iron in his hand
Building the railroad across this land.

Phineas lived nearly twelve more years and his travels aren?t altogether clear.
But we know that his language got a lot more raw and he offended all around him that could hear.
Some called him nasty, a crazy drunken brute, others say he just became a little less astute.
But changes did occur in this poor wounded man and that?s a fact that no one can dispute.
His tamping iron pointed to the places of the brain,
That excited all the doctors from Detroit to Bangor, Maine.
Poor Phineas was a gift, this man who went adrift,
Because of him the hypothalamus got it?s name.

Phineas Gage was all the rage
He made the Boston Post front page
God bless the man with the iron in his hand
Building the railroad across this land.

Phineas carried his tamping iron round, every day until the day he died.
And in May of 1860 in his dear mother?s arms, our wounded friend met his demise.
His mother laid his body in a California tomb, with the tamping iron nestled where he lay.
And in 1867 when his body was exhumed, his skull and iron were put on display.
I?d like to thank this man on behalf of all of us,
Whose injury contributed to doctors we can trust.
A scientific martyr and nobody had it harder,
Yet he?s a hero who rarely is discussed.

Phineas Gage was all the rage
He made the Boston Post front page
God bless the man with the iron in his hand
Building the railroad across this land.

Yes God bless the man with the iron in his hand?
Building the railroad across this land.