I dedicate this song to the workin´ man For ever´ man that puts in a hard Eight or ten hours a day of work and toil and sweat Always got somebody lookin´ down his neck
Tryin´ to get more out of I´m Than he really ought to have to put in After twenty nine long years of workin´ In this shop with Oney standin´ over me Today when that old whistle blows I´ll check in all my gear and I´ll retire The superintendent just dropped by and said They´d planned my little get together Then he said I´d never a made it If old Oney hadn´t held me to the fire I´ve seen him in my dreams at night And woke up in the mornin´ feelin´ tired And old Oney don´t remember, when I came here How he tried to get me fired With his folded hands behind him Every mornin´ Oney waited at the gate Where he´d rant and rave like I committed murder Clockin´ in five minutes late
But today they´ll gather ´round me Like I´ve seen ´em do when any man retires Then old Oney´s gonna tell me From now on I´m free to do what I desire He´ll present me with that little old gold watch They give a man at times like this But there´s one thing he´s not countin´ on Today´s the day I give old Oney his I´ve been workin´, buildin´ muscles Oney´s just been standin´ ´round a gettin´ soft And today about four thirty I´ll make up for every good night´s sleep I´ve lost When I´m gone I´ll be remembered As the workin´ man who put his point across With a right hand full of knuckles ´Cause today I show old Oney who´s the boss Hmm, what time is it? Four thirty