The bricklayer’s song    (video)

 

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1. Dear Sir, I write this note to you to tell you of my plight,

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    for at the time of writing it I'm not a pretty sight.

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    My body is all black and blue, my face a deathly grey,

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    and I write this note to say why I am not at work today.

 

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2. While working on the fourteenth floor some bricks I had to clear,

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    but tossing them down from such a height was not a good idea.

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    The foreman wasn't very pleased, he is an arkward sod,

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    and he said I had to cart them down the ladders in me hod.

 

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3. Well, clearing all these bricks by hand, it was so very slow,

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    so I hoisted up a barrel and secured a rope below.

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    But in me haste to do the job, I was too blind to see,

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    that a barrel full of building bricks was heavier than me.

 

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4. And so when I untied the rope, the barrel fell like lead,

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    and clinging tightly to the rope I started up instead.

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    I shot up like a rocket, and to my dismay I found

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    that halfway up I met the bloody barrel coming down.

 

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5. Well, the barrel broke me shoulder as to the ground it sped,

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    and when I reached the top I banged the pulley with me head.

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    But I clung on tightly, numb with shock from this almighty blow,

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    while the barrel spilled out half it's bricks some fourteen floors below.

 

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6. Now, when these bricks had fallen from the barrel to the floor,

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    I then outweighed the barrel and so started down once more.

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    But I clung on tightly to the rope, me body racked with pain,

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    and halfway down I met the bloody barrel once again.

 

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7. The force of this collision halfway down the office block

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    caused multiple abrasions and a nasty case of shock.

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    But I clung on tightly to the rope as I fell towards the ground,

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    and I landed on the broken bricks the barrel had scattered round.

 

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8. Well, as I lay there on the floor, I thought I'd passed the worst,

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    but the barrel hit the pulley wheel and then the bottom burst.

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    A shower of bricks rained down on me, I didn't have a hope,

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    as I lay there bleeding on the ground, I let go of the bloody rope.

 

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9. The barrel now being heavier, it started down once more,

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    it landed right across me as I lay there on the floor.

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    It broke three ribs and my left arm, and I can only say,

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    I hope you`ll understand why I am not at work today.

 

(orig. = capo 2nd)    (The Corries)