Dan (an honest working man)
Eric Bogle

I'm pleased to meet you, my name's Dan
        and I'm an honest working man
A tarnished badge, they tell me
        but it's one I wear with pride.
A fair day's work for a fair day's pay
        I've always lived my life that way.
But now I can't help thinking
        I've been taken for a ride

Those hard years on the factory floor
        toilin' in the ceaseless roar
that made me old before my time
        wrecked my hearing and my health
And when I total up the cost
        what I've gained to what I've lost
I ask myself now Dan
        what's the total of your wealth?
        Just how much is your life worth?

I live in a house I'll never own
        could never get a housing loan
Bank managers and suchlike
        don't rate the likes of me
Feeding three kids on a fitter's wage
        I've always found it hard to save
And being an honest working man
        don't count as equity

All those years of toil and sweat
        climbing in and out of debt
I often look back on them
        and ask myself for what?
A rented house on a grimy street
        An endless fight to make ends meet
When you add it all together
        it don't seem like a lot.
        But it's all that I've got.

But a man's life can't be judged alone
        by what he has or what he owns
It's what he loves and cares for
        that gives it quality
And what gives meaning to my life
        are my three kids and my wife
We've always stuck together
        always being a family.

Now my kids are rotting on the dole
        holding out the beggar's bowl
I see the anger in their eyes
        it cuts me to the heart
and shall I simply stand aside
        my kids are slowly crucified?
Watch all I've worked and cared for
        as it slowly falls apart.
        Well by Christ, I won't do that.

I'm pleased to meet you, my name's Dan
        and I'm an honest working man
A tarnished badge, they tell me
        but it's one I wear with pride
A fair day's work for a fair day's pay
        I've always lived my life that way
But now I can't help thinking
        I've been taken for a ride

And though I ain't got much to spare
        what I have I'm going to share
To give my kids and other kids,
        some purpose, pride, and place
And those leeches, grown fat on my sweat
        I promise you I won't forget
When I asked them if they'd share the load
        they laughed right in my face.
        Yes, they laughed right in my face.