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Oh, the year was 1862
Now, Hampton Road's gone ironclad
When the yanks pulled out at Gosport yard
And left them rebels standing guard
The dry docks clang with hammered steel
Now Hampton Road's gone ironclad
For a union ship in rebel hands
To open up these seas again

With a welded ram fitted to her prow
Since Hampton Road's gone ironclad
The gunports broadside fore and aft
She's the first of her kind, this watercraft
Oh, Frank Buchanan better know the tides
Now Hampton Roads gone ironclad
'Cause Gideon Welles has mariners blood that
Runs deeper than the Chesapeake mud

Better that we die fightin', Jack
So blow ye winds and come ye wrack
Merrimack and Monitor

On the 8th of March at Fort Monroe
Now Hampton Road's gone ironclad
With the Sloop-o-War Cumberland drug the banks
And the steam frigate Roanoke sunk for the yanks
Then the Merrimack rose like a great black whale
Hampton Road's gone ironclad
With a muzzle load from Mallory
She lashed her tongue full of artillery

Better that we die fightin', Jack
So blow ye winds and come ye wrack
Merrimack and Monitor
Merrimack and Monitor

The Monitor made Brooklyn proud
Now Hampton Road's gone ironclad
Her guns on the raft, that rack and pinion
Trained on the James for to hunt the Virginian
Two Flag Officers fired away
Now Hampton Road's gone ironclad
And on both sides the bravest fell
And the cannons roared
We yelled and yelled and yelled

Better that we die fightin', Jack
So blow ye winds and come ye wrack
Merrimack and Monitor
Merrimack and Monitor
Merrimack and Monitor