[ Featuring The Stonemasons ]
Our fathers worked long by the sweat of their brow
Cared for the clay by the shovel and plow
Got their bread from their grain their milk from their cow
And slept soundly at night in their hovels
But the king sent the sheriffs to rap on their doors
To collect heavy taxes for far distant wars
That the kingdom might grow to embrace foreign shores
Which they seldom if ever should visit
Oh the poor working man always gets the short stick
For the bosses are harsh and the dealers are slick
In the stacking of steel or the laying of brick
It's the poor working man always gets the short stick
It's the poor working man always gets the short stick
Three hundred years past men came from London town
Saying come trade your shillings for glistening pounds
Leave your shovels behind in the green Sussex downs
And come build a new life in the city
But the factory work very quickly grew old
For labor was long conditions were cold
And we pined for the freedoms we'd foolishly sold
Living packed like sardines in our squalor
Oh the poor working man always gets the short stick
For the bosses are harsh and the dealers are slick
In the stacking of steel or the laying of brick
It's the poor working man always gets the short stick
It's the poor working man always gets the short stick
Engles and Marx said here's what's to be done
Grab your hammers and scythes for a revolution
And gather the means and the profits to one
And distribute to each as is needed
So we gave it a shot and not once and not twice
And we waited in lines for our bread and our rice
But they starved us like slaves and they slayed us like mice
And they sent us to work in the Gulags
Oh the poor working man always gets the short stick
For the bosses are harsh and the dealers are slick
In the stacking of steel or the laying of brick
It's the poor working man always gets the short stick
It's the poor working man always gets the short stick
Now taxes are high for the nation and state
And inflation devalues our hourly rate
And the rent is too high and a mortgage is straight up
Too much to be paid by blue collars
So we'll cuss and complain but return to the mines
To the oil rigs factories fields supply lines
With our health going to crap as our credit declines
And no one lends a hand in our struggles
Oh the poor working man always gets the short stick
For the bosses are harsh and the dealers are slick
In the stacking of steel or the laying of brick
It's the poor working man always gets the short stick
It's the poor working man always gets the short stick
When I die do not weep I'll return to the clay
And all of my troubles will vanish away
And I'll work for my Savior in unending day
Where the overtime pay is enormous
Until then I will bear with my soreness and strife
And I'll work not for cash but my children and wife
For though fortune is hard there's no nobler life
As any poor navvy could tell you
Oh the poor working man always gets the short stick
For the bosses are harsh and the dealers are slick
In the stacking of steel or the laying of brick
It's the poor working man always gets the short stick
It's the poor working man always gets the short stick
Oh the poor working man always gets the short stick
For the bosses are harsh and the dealers are slick
In the stacking of steel or the laying of brick
It's the poor working man always gets the short stick
It's the poor working man always gets the short stick
