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Factory Lyrics
Early in the morning factory whistle blows,
Man rises from bed and puts on his clothes,
Man takes his lunch, walks out in the morning light,
It's the working, the working, just the working life.
Through the mansions of fear, through the mansions of pain,
I see my daddy walking through them factory gates in the rain,
Factory takes his hearing, factory gives him life,
The working, the working, just the working life.
End of the day, factory whistle cries,
Men walk through these gates with death in their eyes.
And you just better believe, boy,
somebody's gonna get hurt tonight,
It's the working, the working, just the working life.
Man rises from bed and puts on his clothes,
Man takes his lunch, walks out in the morning light,
It's the working, the working, just the working life.
I see my daddy walking through them factory gates in the rain,
Factory takes his hearing, factory gives him life,
The working, the working, just the working life.
Men walk through these gates with death in their eyes.
And you just better believe, boy,
somebody's gonna get hurt tonight,
It's the working, the working, just the working life.
Song Info
Submitted by
oofus On Jun 05, 2004
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This, to me, is heart-breaking. I seen my father do this all my life. Still do. I'll probably do it all my life too. Poetry.
Springsteen: the greatest
Great song. Lucinda Williams has a great version of this on her Ghosts of Highway 20 record.
This, to me, is heart-breaking. I seen my father do this all my life. Still do. I'll probably do it all my life too. Poetry.
Springsteen: the greatest
This, to me, is heart-breaking. I seen my father do this all my life. Still do. I'll probably do it all my life too. Poetry.
Springsteen: the greatest
I think this song was written in tribute to Bruce's dad. I know they didn't get along very well. A friend of mine pointed out that the short instrumental in the middle is the same melody of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ, Superstar. We both wondered whether that was a coincidence or not since it kind of summed up their relationship at times.
who's gonna get hurt tonight?
I'm surprised there aren't more comments about this song - I find it one of the more obvious expressions of Springsteen's philosophy. Maybe it's that - it's too obvious what he's saying, less subtle than most of his works. He's leaving little doubt about his view of what it's like to be a working class American: "Factory takes his hearing, factory gives him life... and "Men walk through these gates with death in their eyes..."
And the threat of violence toward the protagonist's children at the end is downright chilling.
Agree, Lucinda Williams does an awesome version