The builders are earning their daily bread

And they make sure they eat it every day at one o'clock

And the foreman knocks it on the head

And they take up their tools at roughly two on the dot

The cranes, they built this town

Girder by girder, so high off the ground

And the cranes, they built this town

The temps' off-the-phone voices gossip as they type

And they file to the tube every night at five o'clock

And the clerks knock back their halves and pints, look at the crosswords and girls' legs till the train's next stop

And the cranes, they built this town

Not even a war could bring it down

And the cranes, they built this town

The taxis glisten black in rows at the station

He got his first fare outside the bar at twelve o'clock

And he half-listens with an ear's worth of patience

The drunk and his fare-dodging friend in the back

Outside, cranes like the skeletons of giants with one great arm

After the wrecking ball comes the calm

And the cranes, they built this town

And they'll build it up again if it ever falls down

And the cranes, they built this town

The housewife's dreams evaporate as her husband's nightshift ends at eight

And she walks the kids down to the park

Where the bushes still hide the dirty litter of the dark

And the cranes, they built this town

The cranes, they built this town

The cranes, they built this town

The cranes, they built this town

The cranes