I sing the shanty of fish gutters
Nappy changers, silent shoppers
Sing the shanty of shelf stackers
Office cleaners, packet trackers
Fact checkers & Home schooolers
Shop assistants, bankers, jewellers,
Traindrivers and trainees
Makers of pornography
Deliveroos and postvan drivers
The dedicated and the scivers,
Those who work in every weather
Those who don’t quite get it together
I sing the shanty of all workers
In suits in skirts in burkas
Musicians, dancers,2 actors
Farmers, fixers up of tractors
Sing the rhythm of their labours
Pumping power generators
Clicks of keyboard pings & apps
Beats that make em swing and tap,
Drums of tin and cardboard box
The motor hums, the factory rocks
With thuds of big machinery
The swoosh of washing up the tea
I sing the shanty of baristas
Nursery teachers, babysitters
Those afloat on fortunes fluid
Vicars, Imams, rabbis, druids
Therapists, future proofers,
Beauticians, barbers, roofers
Builders, bakers, cooks, and drainers
Pensioners and personal trainers
Ones who work at night alone
The ones who work online, on phone,
The unemployed & the enslaved,
The rather bored, the very brave,
Those who jab drugs in our arms
Let none of these folk come to harm
