Bring Back the Eight Hour Day - Charlie King

Composed by：Charlie King

My job makes me crazy I'm always behind

Even though I am not one to shirk

And some fuzzy folksinger repeats in my mind

That my life should be more than my work

Well I like the work that I do

I don't mind earning my pay

But there's so much to do when the work day is through

Bring back the eight-hour day

Say you work at a white-collar job

You get paid at a fixed monthly rate

But you come in for meetings a half-hour early

You're working a full hour late

Then you sit for an hour in traffic

With the rest of the overtime drones

There's a latchkey kid you must chase off to bed

'Fore you eat a cold supper alone

Oh bring back the eight-hour day

When did we give it away

There's so much to do when the work day is through

Bring back the eight-hour day

When I was a kid mom stayed home

And we lived on dad's blue-collar pay

Our standard of living was decent and sweet

Just as good as what I've got today

Now my wife has a good-paying job

And me well I'm doing okay

But we're putting out ninety-nine hours a week

Tell me who the hell's getting my pay

Hey

Bring back the eight-hour day

When did we give it away

There's so much to do when the work day is through

Bring back the eight-hour day

They've got cellular phones for your car

They've got notebook PC's for your lap

If you crawl off to sleep you stay close to your beeper

Now why do we stand for this crap

They tell you you've got to compete

No we're tired from footing the bill

Eight hours for work eight hours for rest

And eight hours for what we will

A hundred and ten years ago

In Chicago in Haymarket Square

They gathered from shipyards

From mine and from mill

Just to march in the sun and the air

They'd been slaving from dawn until dusk

But not on the first of May

'Cause you can't smell the flowers when

You're working twelve hours

So they struck for an eight-hour day

Hey bring back the eight-hour day

Bring back the five-day week

When did we give it away

How did it become an antique

I like the work that I do

I don't mind earning my pay

But there's so much to do

When the work day is through

Bring back the eight-hour day