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?


Lyrics submitted by BlissfulVanity, edited by grabyerpitchforks

The Lowly Carpenter song meanings
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  • +1
    My Interpretation

    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!"

    scatter_brainon January 11, 2009   Link

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