Black Trade

All you welders and riveters and boiler-smiths and plate-men You gaugers and pipe-fitters, sparks and sheet-metalworkers You riggers and copper-smiths, red-letters and hard drinkers Cailers and rackers, you pullers and tappers Half seven horners, you crawl as a mob From the gates into hell with a tab in your gob Baitbox, a piece, poke, a hammer and dab A day lasts a lifetime and life is a job When you're black trade You're just black trade Your family needs you to do as needs must To the mercy of metal and madness you trust In the keels and the girders, tappers and dust And a deadly concoction of sweat, fumes, and rust 'Cause you're black trade You're just black trade All you welders and riveters and boiler-smiths and plate-men You gaugers and pipe-fitters, sparks and sheet-metalworkers You riggers and copper-smiths, red-letters and hard drinkers Cailers and rackers, you pullers and tappers You welders and riveters and boiler-smiths and plate-men You gaugers and pipe-fitters, sparks and sheet-metalworkers You riggers and copper-smiths, red-letters and hard drinkers Cailers and rackers, you pullers and tappers The bane of your life lies there snug in the slips She's round at the stern and she's wide at the hips And she's proud in the bow and the pout on her lips Says this country's an island and an island needs ships And you're black trade You're just black trade And the draughtsmen and joiners come, all spick and span With their overalls creased, shirt and tie, to a man When you're up to your eyes in a platelayer's tan You'll be fitting out with them one day if you can 'Cause you're black trade You're just black trade All you welders and riveters and boiler-smiths and plate-men You gaugers and pipe-fitters, sparks and sheet-metalworkers You riggers and copper-smiths, red-letters and hard drinkers Cailers and rackers, you pullers and tappers You welders and riveters and boiler-smiths and plate-men You gaugers and pipe-fitters, sparks and sheet-metalworkers You riggers and copper-smiths, red-letters and hard drinkers Cailers and rackers, you pullers and tappers You're just black trade You're just black trade You're just black trade You're just black trade