WAIT TILL THE WORK COMES ROUND
(Gus Elen / Charles Cornell 1906)

Gus Elen
recorded 1907


Some people knuckle down through bein' out o' work,
But I ain't one o' them, not me!
If a gaffer starts to nag,
I soon picks up me bag
And I flops 'im one with this, do yer see?
It don't do to let people think you're on the rocks,
'Cos they're bound to turn their 'eads the other way,
But it make no odds to me
What the future's going to be,
So long as I've got all I wants today!

So what's the use o' kickin' up a row
If there ain't no work about?
If you can't get a job you can rest in bed
Till the school kids all comes out!
If you can't get work you can't get the sack,
That's a argyment that's sensible and sound!
Lay your head back on yer piller
And read yer Daily Mirror,
And wait till the work comes round!

When trade is werry rocky
And yer has to take the knocky,
It's best to face the music like a brick!
If your creditors come down on yer for everyfink you owe,
You must bash 'em on the crumpet with a stick!
Some people walks about the streets a-lookin' out for work,
Till they 'aven't got a leg to call their own,
Instead o' them a-waiting for the work to come to them
With their feet stuck on the mantlepiece at home!

So what's the use o' kickin' up a row
If there ain't no work about?
If you can't get a job you can rest in bed
Till the school kids all comes out!
If you can't get work you can't get the sack,
That's a argyment that's sensible and sound!
With the swells in Rotten Row
You can sit and have a blow,
And wait till the work comes round!




(Transcribed by Peter Akers - February 2018)