Redgum

Killing Floor
Joe spoke no english but he had a dream And he saved up most of his pay To bring his wife and six kids from Lebanon And settle down here to stay You could feel the prison of his loneliness Cause he wouldn't see them for years He kept brandy behind the compressed air tanks And he gulped it when the coast was clear Nick the Greek collected tropical fish But he had to be a character too So he smuggled in Pirhana just to break the law And he fed them on kangaroo And Bob's pride was his handlebar moustache And he said he still combed out sand Pushed a tank through the Sahara desert So they made him the leading hand The summer night shifts were long and cool And Charlie chain smoked cigars Young David sweated in his speckle paint mask As he gazed out at the stars Crazy Charlie was a Yugoslav SongtexteHis old straight eight Chevy could move His ambition was to live on a hippie commune When Dave told him about free love Fred had been a farmer and a heavyweight champ He had hands like a stump jump plough Move the earth with a thrust of his arm He was loading on the paint line now And the boys made a noise every Friday night At the bar of the Hilton Hotel Downing pints and chewing the fat Till the ten o'clock closing bell It was only rumour until the foreman came And hiding his shame with a cough He said "They're cutting back down to one shift now They're gonna have to lay you off"Joe held his gaze and gulped at brandy Then spat it out at his feet Bob stood bolt still looking thunderstruck Nick swore for an hour in Greek...But their anger was spent in a rush of fire And then smouldered out of mind When they shook hands on that last grey day Each was in his way resigned A few days later I saw old Joe And he looked like he'd aged ten years Drunk on the tiles at the State Hotel And he couldn't hold back the tears Fred had talked of his grueling heavyweight bouts I remembered what he'd said There's no giving up on that killing floor If you don't fight you're dead If you work with your hands for your livelihood Some day you might have to choose When the class war rages on the factory floor If you don't fight you lose If you don't fight you lose... Aus Songtexte Mania