| My Daddy he were just a boy when he walked outta school
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| His Mammy said there’d soon be one more hungry mouth to fill
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| He said 'the learnin' and the schoolin' wurnae bad for them that could
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| Tho' I can read & write my bloody name & sign it where I should'
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| And he said
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| 'If I had my time again, I know I’d be a learned man
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| An artisan in high demand, a Doctor or a Teacher
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| As sure as guns are made of iron, I were born a working man
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| I’d live & die right where I stand if I’d my time again'
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| He went wide eyed down tae Johnny Brown, he were a big lad for his years
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| And there he worked so long if he ever cried there’d be iron ore in his tears
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| He’d tumble in of a Friday night a Haddie for yer tea
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| And he’d sing to me their dirty songs & diddle me on his knee
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| And he’d sing
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| 'If I had my time again, I know I’d be a rovin' man
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| I’d rove away to far Japan to court the Emperors daughter.'
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| With his mates he’d belt the plates on fleets of shining awe
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| To carry all the well-to-do to golden foreign shores
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| They all coughed themselves to an early grave half filled with bloody rain
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| As the people sang 'The Long Black Limousine'
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| We all sing!
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| 'If I had my time again, I know I’d be a fightin' man
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| In far Malay or Vietnam, tho' I am more a lover.' |