Every night I drag myself to work
and most weeks I barely see the sun.
And those long, lonely hours take their toll on a man
but they say someday my time will come.
For twenty years I’ve kept that awful pace
and though I never miss a day
some don’t recognize my face.
Ah! the last of seven children
I’ve been behind in every race —
I suppose I’ve always known my place.
I was told to live according to the rule
that the land we all live in is fair.
A man takes what he is given, earns his living with his hands;
he won’t die rich but he don’t care.
I once believed in never seeking aid
that independence was a virtue
I’d be rewarded coz I stayed.
I believed an honest hour
for every honest dollar made.
It turns out honest men just never get paid.
They’ll make a grown man pee in a cup.
They’d put a camera in his bedroom if they could.
Ah! but don’t you try an’ fight it, coz the law is on their side;
you will work and you will never feel good.
But I’m free and I guess I should be glad —
free to find some other job
or stay lonely, hurt, and mad.
And now I ask myself
how’d it ever get this bad?
I'm more scared of my boss than my dad.
And I wanna feel the heat of the earth.
I don't want my soul to grow cold.
But I also gotta know one day that I’ll look back
and be proud of my life when I'm old.
So every night I pay my dues;
I believe ‘em when they say
that it ain’t no shame to lose.
And every day when I get home
I drown myself with booze
and wonder why I feel so used.