THE FITTER'S SONG
1958 (Songs of a Road)

I am a roving rambler, a fitter to me trade
I can fix you anything, a camshaft to a spade
I can fix a dodgy gearbox or mend a broken tread
Decoke a Leyland engine while I'm standing on me head
   So shift,boys,shift, do the job and draw your pay
   When this road is finished I'll be moving on me way
   I'll clean me tools and wrap 'em in a pair of oily jeans
   You'll always find me working where you find the big machines


I've worked in far off places since I left the coaly Tyne
I work among the heavies and I wear a roving sign
I keep the tractors on the job, a-turning up the soil
And I've followed me nose around the world by the smell of diesel oil
   So shift,boys,shift, do the job and draw your pay
   When this road is finished I'll be moving on me way
   You'll find me where the tractors are, on roads or hydro schemes
   Playing the lousy nursemaid to a pack of big machines


Tune - trad Australian - ("Along the Castlereagh")
words and arrangement Ewan MacColl
Copyright - 1963 Stormking Music Ltd