Dan lyrics

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

and I'm an honest workin' 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 thinkin'

I've been taken for a ride.

Those hard years on the factory floor,

toilin' in the ceaseless roar,

that made me old before me time,

wrecked me hearin' and me health.

And when I total up the cost,

what I've gained to what I've lost,

I ask meself: "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 housin' loan,

bank managers and suchlike

don't rate the likes of me.

Feedin' three kids on a fitter's wage,

I've always found it hard to save,

and bein' an honest workin' man

don't count as equity.

All those years of toil and sweat,

climbin' in and out of debt;

I often look back on them,

and ask meself "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 meanin' to my life,

are my three kids and my wife;

we've always stuck together,

always been a family.

Now my kids are rottin' on the dole,

holdin' 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 workin' 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 thinkin'

I've been taken for a ride.

And though I ain't got much to spare,

what I have, I'm goin' 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 workin' man.

• Artist:Eric Bogle