"Dan"   by Eric Bogle      I'm pleased to meet you, my name's Dan,   and I'm an honest working man   A tarnished badge, they tell me,   but it's one I wear with pride   A fair day's work for a fair day's pay,   I've always lived my life that way   But now I can't help thinking,   I've been taken for a ride      Those hard years on the factory floor,   toilin' in the ceaseless roar,   that made me old before my time,   wrecked my hearing and my health   And when I total up the cost,   what I've gained to what I've lost   I ask myself now Dan,   what's the total of your wealth?   Just how much is your life worth?      I live in a house I'll never own,   could never get a housing loan   Bank managers and suchlike,   don't rate the likes of me   Feeding three kids on a fitter's wage,   I've always found it hard to save   And being an honest working man   don't count as equity      All those years of toil and sweat,   climbing in and out of debt   I often look back on them   and ask myself for what?   A rented house on a grimy street   An endless fight to make ends meet   When you add it all together,   it don't seem like a lot   But it's all that I've got      But a man's life can't be judged alone   by what he has or what he owns   It's what he loves and cares for   that gives it quality   And what gives meaning to my life   are my three kids and my wife   We've always stuck together,   always being a family      Now my kids are rotting on the dole,   holding out the beggar's bowl   I see the anger in their eyes,   it cuts me to the heart   and shall I simply stand aside   while my kids are slowly crucified?   Watch all I've worked and cared for   as it slowly falls apart   Well by Christ, I won't do that      I'm pleased to meet you, my name's Dan,   and I'm an honest working man   A tarnished badge, they tell me,   but it's one I wear with pride   A fair day's work for a fair day's pay,   I've always lived my life that way   But now I can't help thinking,   I've been taken for a ride      And though I ain't got much to spare,   what I have I'm going to share   To give my kids and other kids,   some purpose, pride, and place   And you leeches, grown fat on my sweat,   I promise you I won't forget   When I asked you if you'd share the load,   you laughed right in my face   Yes, you laughed right in my face      I'm pleased to meet you, my name's Dan,   and I'm an honest working man