Honest Work - Graham Parker

As long as you give me my pay

You’ll get your moneys worth

I’ll be there 8 hours a day

I won’t hide and I won’t shirk

I got a way with a hammer and a nail

A dovetail and a tongue and groove

Put up a wall in half a day

Guarantee it’ll never move

Shouda li li li dum dum a day

Honest work

I’m gonna build a strong foundation

Marble walls like Grand Central Station

Not gonna feel any more frustration

Do enough work for an entire nation

Gonna get a chisel and an awl and a saw

Carve my name out on your door

A block and tackle and a spirit level

Take your heart of glass and put on a bevel

Got to build a strong foundation

Strong enough to hold up a nation

Strong enough to put your faith in

The roof won’t leak and the floor won’t cave in

Gonna get a lathe and a capstan press

Take an old claw hammer to this mess

Gonna knock down the walls of denial

Wear 'em down with a pick and a file