The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Come labor, get ready to dance for your bread
My son, I was once where you stand
There's a beast with insatiable hunger
Its minions need crafters and skilled working hands
Needs a fortress high in the hilltops
And we are the great chosen crew
But I am a lowly carpenter, so, what have i power to do?
Oh, misery! Call us to rise up at dawn
To turn whey as fast as we can
We may be the mortar that cradles the brick,
but I am just one grain of sand.
And don't tell me of tossing the wrenches,
It only brings pleasure and pain
And we are all lowly carpenters, so,
Where we're taken is where we'll remain
And the master shall govern with unbroken backs
Look down from the tops of the hills
You can cry through the night just as much as you like
There will always be towers to build
I coulda been more than some stone-dragging vessel!
I could be more than their wood-cutting slave!
But we are all lowly carpenters, so, what have we power to change?
And if you can't take no more, then get out of the way
For we've got a day to get through
We wire their castles, their prisons, and banks
Know their mansions from cellar to roof
We've got hammers, and wrenches, and chisels
We could destroy any great wall we come to
But I am a lowly carpenter, so, what have I power to do?
My son, I was once where you stand
There's a beast with insatiable hunger
Its minions need crafters and skilled working hands
Needs a fortress high in the hilltops
And we are the great chosen crew
But I am a lowly carpenter, so, what have i power to do?
Oh, misery! Call us to rise up at dawn
To turn whey as fast as we can
We may be the mortar that cradles the brick,
but I am just one grain of sand.
And don't tell me of tossing the wrenches,
It only brings pleasure and pain
And we are all lowly carpenters, so,
Where we're taken is where we'll remain
And the master shall govern with unbroken backs
Look down from the tops of the hills
You can cry through the night just as much as you like
There will always be towers to build
I coulda been more than some stone-dragging vessel!
I could be more than their wood-cutting slave!
But we are all lowly carpenters, so, what have we power to change?
And if you can't take no more, then get out of the way
For we've got a day to get through
We wire their castles, their prisons, and banks
Know their mansions from cellar to roof
We've got hammers, and wrenches, and chisels
We could destroy any great wall we come to
But I am a lowly carpenter, so, what have I power to do?
Lyrics submitted by BlissfulVanity, edited by grabyerpitchforks
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this has nothing to do with jesus christ and that's obvious if you know his other songs
it's one of the most obvious erik's lyrics, it talks about worker's power.
this song is so fucking awesome. it's about workers who understand that they're being exploited by the capitalist system but just can't quite grasp the fact that they've got the power to change it.
they know they're "the mortar that cradles the brick" but they're spirit has been so broken and capitalist media and academia indoctrinates workers into believing that they're isolated and powerless ("one grain of sand"). Fucking with the system ("tossing the wrenches") only leads to momentary "pleasure" followed by the "pain" inflicted by the cops and bosses when they're beaten up/sacked/chucked in jail.
just as the lowly carpenter is on the verge of realising they've all in fact got the bosses and their system by the balls ("we could destroy any great wall we come to"), the nagging self doubt creeps back and in and convinces him he can't change anything.
for me this song is like erik petersen just saying to workers " don't you see how dumb this sense of powerlessness is when you talk it through? wake the fuck up!"
I love this song, its incredibly powerful. I feel that its about how workers feel that they have no power, and that they don't have the power to change anything, but if you look at the infamous 'lowly carpenter' (ie Jesus) he has changed the world, and many other people who have done manual labour have changed things. I think its about worker solidarity.
As a worker I feel that we are the backbone of so much but seem to have such little say, beautiful shit
Jesus wouldn't have been lowly; a free carpenter would have been considered an artisan, while most of the labour intensive work would have been done by slaves. I love this song though :)
there is obvious sarcasm in the line "i am a lowly carpenter, so what have i power to do?" and the other lines like it.. in the beginning of the song he is like describing how small and insignificant that their superiors see them. then at the end it describes how powerful they are becasue there are so many more of them and stuff like that.
first off, this is an excellent song.i find myself singing it at work (being that i am a carpenter) almost every day.
however i think this part "And don't tell me i'm tossing the wretched It only brings pleasure and pain" should read "And don't tell me of tossing the wrenches.." referring to union workers in the old days literally tossing wrenches into machinery to halt production when they wouldn't get proper wages etc.
This song is about how The workers of the world are veiwed as lower class citizens and yet we are really the ones with the power, because without the workers there arnt banks, prisons, and mansions and if we all decided we were done we could destroy everything weve created for our bastard bosses.
Its a song about the power of common people
Yeah its the idea of being capable of doing great things with your labour but the labour doesn't belong to you, it belongs to your boss as he is the one paying for it.
The answer is obviously Jesus.