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User Name Thread Name Subject Posted
Jim Dixon Lyr Req: Sewer songs (57* d) Lyr Add: SONG OF THE SEWER (via Art Carney) 12 Nov 17


Several words of this are different from the version Cranky Yankee posted above, and the dialect isn't as intense, and it has a whole new verse, so I thought I'd post the whole thing. You can hear it at The Internet Archive.


SONG OF THE SEWER
Written by Matt Dubey & Harold Karr
As recorded by Art Carney, with orchestra directed by Sid Feller, 1954.

1. I work in the sewer; it's a very hard job.
You know they won't hire just any old slob.
You don't have to wear a tie or a coat.
You just have to know how to float.

CHORUS: We sing the song of the sewer.
Of the sewer we sing this song.
Together we stand, with shovel in hand,
To keep things rollin' along.

2. I work down a manhole with a guy named Bruce,
And we are in charge of all the refuse.
He lets me go first while he holds the lid.
I'm tellin' ya—jeez!—What a sweet kid!

3. A funny thing happened to Bruce yesterday.
The tide came along; he got carried away.
He come out in Jersey, but it's OK now,
'Cause that's where he lives anyhow.

4. My father he worked in a sewer uptown.
I followed his footsteps and worked my way down.
That's how I began in this here industry.
I just sort o' fell into it—lucky me!


[The similarity with the Beverly Hillbillies theme isn't very close.]
[John Lithgow also recorded this in 2006. His version can be heard on Spotify.]


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