The Steel Jungle was commissioned by the Denton High School Chorale, directed by Ann Smith and was premiered successively at the 2003 TMEA Conference in San Antonio, Texas. However the work was never published. 20 years later Ann Smith asked Mark Ford to revise the work for the 2023 North Texas Metroplex Children’s Choir Concert in Dallas’ Meyerson Concert Hall, and the work received its 2nd premiere on January 28, 2023.

The Steel Jungle is dedicated to those who lost loved ones in the terrorist attacks on New York City’s World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

The Steel Jungle – Lyrics
by Mark Ford

Into the tunnel finding cold and dark
Above a river crying soon
Fluorescent lights break up the path
Open to light of the moon

Enter a jungle with a greasy feel
Finding asphalt, concrete and steel
Peering through heavy smog of haze
A longing for simpler days

Rising Dark Buildings
Searching cold black skies

Enter a jungle with a greasy feel
Windows reflect concrete and steel…
reflect
Peering through heavy smog of haze
A longing for simpler days

Then I saw two fallen giants
Among the rubble and ash
Screaming thousands of voices I
heard
Above a single bird

soaring freely to a space of trees
(meadow dividing)
A central place between the stone

A central place between the stone
I saw this flight
I stood with millions
Watching hoping
Millions watching

I saw this flight and realized
Among millions I was alone

Then from the stillness I heard
A beautiful girl sing

The beauty we love reflects who we
are
And the joy we sing reaches for the
stars
Your treasure within reflects your spirit
reborn
So hold my hand, find that life can be transformed

We cannot allow sadness to close
down our lives
To embrace change is to know life is
full The challenge is to always lift up our
eyes
And we will lift up our hearts
And see the joy all around
And we will learn to care
And see that love abounds

And we will know
we have inside
to share

The beauty we love reflects who we
are
And the joy we sing reaches for the
stars
You will find your treasure within
reflects your spirit reborn
Come on and hold my hand, find that
life can be transformed

To see your path ahead
The present holds the answer
Open your heart to all
And we will show
Love is the way

Right now
Right now is the time
Sing your song!