Redgum - k**ing Floor lyrics

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 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 Had to be a character too Smuggled in piranha just to break the law And he fed them on kangaroo Bob's pride was his handlebar mustache Said he still combed out sand Pushed a tank through the Sahara desert So they made him the leading hand And the summer night shifts were long and cool Charlie chain smoked cigars David sweated in his speckled paint mask As he gazed out at the stars Crazy Charlie was a Yugoslav His 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 Hands like a stump jump plow Moved the earth with a thrust of his arms 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 rumor til 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 a brandy And spat it out at his feet Bob stood bolt still looking thunderstruck Nick swore for an hour in Greek Their anger was spent in a rush of fire And smoldered out of mind When they shook hands on that last grey day Each was in his way resigned Then a few days later I saw old Joe Looking like he'd aged ten years Drunk on the tiles at the Stag 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 k**ing 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 cla** war rages on the factory floor If you don't fight you lose If you don't fight you lose If you don't fight you lose If you don't fight you lose If you don't fight you lose If you don't fight you lose If you don't fight If you don't fight you lose If you don't fight you lose