John McCutcheon - Go To Work On Monday

Go to Work on Monday
(Performed by John McCutcheon)


I did my part in World War Two
Got wounded for the nation
Now my lungs are all shot down
There ain't no compensation

I'm gonna go to work on Monday one more time
I'm gonna go to work on Monday one more time, one more time
I'm gonna go to work on Monday one more time

The doctor says I smoke too much
He says that I'm not trying
He says he don't know what I've got
But we both know he's lying

The last time I went near my job
I thought my lungs were broken
Chest bound like iron bands
I couldn't breathe for choking

The politicians in this state
They're nothing short of rotten
They buy us off with fancy words
And sell us out to cotton

The doctor says both lungs are gone
There ain't no way to shake it
But I can't live without a job
Somehow I've got to take it

They tell me I can't work at all
There ain't no need of trying
But living like some used up thing
Is just this short of dying

Sitting on my front porch swing
I'm like someone forgotten
Head all filled with angry thoughts
And lungs filled up with cotton