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The Dirty Jobs Lyrics
I am a man who looks after the pigs
Usually I get along okay.
I am a man who reveals all he digs,
Should be more careful what I say.
I'm getting put down,
I'm getting pushed round,
I'm being beaten every day.
My life's fading,
But things are changing,
I'm not gonna sit and weep again.
I am a man who drives a local bus
I take miners to work, but the pits all closed today.
It's easy to see that you are one of us.
Ain't it funny how we all seem to look the same?
We're getting put down
My karma tells me
You've been screwed again.
If you let them do it to you
You've got yourself to blame.
It's you who feels the pain
It's you that feels ashamed.
I am a young man
I ain't done very much,
You men should remember how you used to fight.
Just like a child, I've been seeing only dreams,
I'm all mixed up but I know what's right.
I'm getting put down
Usually I get along okay.
I am a man who reveals all he digs,
Should be more careful what I say.
I'm getting pushed round,
I'm being beaten every day.
My life's fading,
But things are changing,
I'm not gonna sit and weep again.
I take miners to work, but the pits all closed today.
It's easy to see that you are one of us.
Ain't it funny how we all seem to look the same?
My karma tells me
You've been screwed again.
If you let them do it to you
You've got yourself to blame.
It's you who feels the pain
It's you that feels ashamed.
I ain't done very much,
You men should remember how you used to fight.
Just like a child, I've been seeing only dreams,
I'm all mixed up but I know what's right.
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I think the first two verses are the voices of two people Jimmy meets after he leaves home, both stuck in dead end jobs. He criticises them for not fighting against the system that put them there. The guy in the first verse looks after pigs, which is a reference to the story of the Prodigal Son, which suggests that Jimmy's rebuke is probably motivated by guilt at leaving his parents to go off on his own.
I work in the medical field, and this song it close to me because it feels like I get pissed on for trying to do good things... but tough sh*t. The 2nd to last verse is what I think of - do more for myself than for others. But "I'm not gonna weep again".
Such an inspirational song for me.
It's a song talking about the working man, and how he gets put down.
wow only a few comments... Great song!
I remember being an angsty young man and noting the hypocrisy of jaded older men who had conceded to capitalism, family, practicality, quiet desperation. In those early years, Jimmy too is beginning to make concessions and older guys who work dirty jobs are a symbol of what he's likely to slide into, so he feels compelled to call them out.
The journey of masculinity involves being emasculated, just as the journey of humanity involves being dehumanized, in our empty modern life of work/pay/leisure and for Jimmy, in search of a deeper meaning to life than dances and fighting - he is right to think, this ain't it. What I love about the Who is the complexities and open questions tagged on to the simple punk message "society is stupid." Sure, it is, now what will you do about it.