about
This song is about my great uncle, Hays Berry, who was a US Army Core of Engineers employee who died falling off of Tygart Dam in West Virginia. A distant cousin of mine posted this description of him on
findagrave.com
"Mr. Berry was a 'lodger' with my grandparents, Herman and Katie Coole, in Grafton while he was working on the construction of Tygart Dam. On the morning of June 7, 1937 when he came down for breakfast he told my grandmother that he had a terrible dream and felt like he should pack his bags and go home. My grandmother told him that he should go home. However, he chose to go to work that day. He was struck by a crane and fell to his death. My mother and her four siblings called him 'Berry'. They were very fond of him. The grandmother attended his funeral."
For the sake of the song, I took a bit of liberty with the story. In the song Hays lived with his wife -- he was married to Dorothy Griffin and I couldn't figure out where she was during all of this. Presumably she was staying with him? They didn't have any children, so maybe she was staying somewhere further away from the dam. I honestly don't know, and when I called my cousin to ask her she didn't know either.Also, while the lyrics reference the hydropower capacity of Tygart Dam, in reality it is designed with capped tunnels running through it so that it may be retrofitted in the future to provide hydropower if people want to retrofit it...but turbines were never put in due to budgetary constraints.
lyrics
Hays Berry lived in Grafton, West Virginia back during the Great Depression
He was out of a job and he was looking for worth, he was strong and skilled and he knew his worth
He was a man of real integrity no question
So he smiled really big when he got himself a gig working for the Army Corps of Engineers
$2.50 an hour, flood control and hydropower and a water reservoir at Tygart Dam
Dam. Dam dam dam dam.
People came from near and far, laying concrete and rebar for this mighty infrastructure operation
To turn a river to a lake; well that just ain't a piece of cake. A brand new dam's a tricky installation
Hays bust his bottom every day, dredging silt and moving clay, roughing up the calluses upon his hands
Smoothing out the new foundation, building water conservation, all of this and more down at the dam
Dam dam dam dam. Dam dam dam dam. Dam. Dam dam dam dam.
Hays woke up in the night, he was a pallid ghostly white, for in his sleep he saw a vision of death.
Told his wife about his vivid dream, how horrifying and extreme, after taking a moment or two to catch his breath
She said Hays honey if you're troubled so, just stay with me and please don't go. I'll make us both some hashbrowns eggs and ham
He turned down her offer for a meal, told himself that dreams weren't real, put on his coat and went back to the dam.
Dam dam dam dam. Dam dam dam dam.
It felt like just just another day, with grueling work and decent pay while the hydroproject neared its grand finale.
The dam was getting close to done, the hardest battle had been won, the mighty river had been tamed in Tygart Valley
Hays was pouring some cement when there was an accident, the poor man was knocked backward by a crane
Pushed him down to the rocks below and for young Hays that was all she wrote. He died falling off the dam
Dam dam dam dam. Dam dam dam dam. Dam. Dam dam dam dam.
They sent a man to tell his wife the news that Hays had lost his life. "He's gone. I'm sorry ma'am".
She hung her head forward as she cried, then she raised her arms and cursed the sky and with everything inside
She said "damn".
Dam. Dam dam dam dam. Dam. Dam dam dam dam.
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