"Dan"

By Eric Bogle

I'm pleased to meet you, my name's Dan

And I'm an honest working man

A tarnished badge, they tell me

But it's one I wear with pride

A fair day's work for a fair day's pay

I've always lived my life that way

But now I can't help thinking

I've been taken for a ride

Those hard years on the factory floor

Toilin' in the ceaseless roar

That made me old before my time

Wrecked my hearing and my health

And when I total up the cost

What I've gained to what I've lost

I ask myself now Dan

What's the total of your wealth?

Just how much is your life worth?

I live in a house I'll never own

Could never get a housing loan

Bank managers and suchlike

Don't rate the likes of me

Feeding three kids on a fitter's wage

I've always found it hard to save

And being an honest working man

Don't count as equity

All those years of toil and sweat

Climbing in and out of debt

I often look back on them

And ask myself for what?

A rented house on a grimy street

An endless fight to make ends meet

When you add it all together

It don't seem like a lot

But it's all that I've got

But a man's life can't be judged alone

By what he has or what he owns

It's what he loves and cares for

That gives it quality

And what gives meaning to my life

Are my three kids and my wife

We've always stuck together

Always being a family

Now my kids are rotting on the dole

Holding out the beggar's bowl

I see the anger in their eyes

It cuts me to the heart

And shall I simply stand aside

While my kids are slowly crucified?

Watch all I've worked and cared for

As it slowly falls apart

Well by Christ, I won't do that

I'm pleased to meet you, my name's Dan

And I'm an honest working man

A tarnished badge, they tell me

But it's one I wear with pride

A fair day's work for a fair day's pay

I've always lived my life that way

But now I can't help thinking

I've been taken for a ride

And though I ain't got much to spare

What I have I'm going to share

To give my kids and other kids

Some purpose, pride, and place

And you leeches, grown fat on my sweat

I promise you I won't forget

When I asked you if you'd share the load

You laughed right in my face

Yes, you laughed right in my face

I'm pleased to meet you, my name's Dan

And I'm an honest working man