There's an evenin' haze settlin' over town   Starlight by the edge of the creek   The buyin' power of the proletariat's gone down   Money's gettin' shallow and weak   Well, the place I love best is a sweet memory   It's a new path that we trod   They say low wages are a reality   If we want to compete abroad      My cruel weapons have been put on the shelf   Come sit down on my knee   You are dearer to me than myself   As you yourself can see   While I'm listening to the steel rails hum   Got both eyes tight shut   Just sitting here trying to keep the hunger from   Creeping its way into my gut      Meet me at the bottom, don't lag behind   Bring me my boots and shoes   You can hang back or fight your best on the frontline   Sing a little bit of these workingman's blues      Well, I'm sailin' on back, ready for the long haul   Tossed by the winds and the seas   I'll drag 'em all down to hell and I'll stand 'em at the wall   I'll sell 'em to their enemies   I'm tryin' to feed my soul with thought   Gonna sleep off the rest of the day   Sometimes no one wants what we got   Sometimes you can't give it away      Now the place is ringed with countless foes   Some of them may be deaf and dumb   No man, no woman knows   The hour that sorrow will come   In the dark I hear the night birds call   I can feel a lover's breath   I sleep in the kitchen with my feet in the hall   Sleep is like a temporary death      Meet me at the bottom, don't lag behind   Bring me my boots and shoes   You can hang back or fight your best on the frontline   Sing a little bit of these workingman's blues      Well, they burned my barn, and they stole my horse   I can't save a dime   I got to be careful, I don't want to be forced   Into a life of continual crime   I can see for myself that the sun is sinking   How I wish you were here to see   Tell me now, am I wrong in thinking   That you have forgotten me?      Now they worry and they hurry and they fuss and they fret   They waste your nights and days   Them I will forget   But you I'll remember always   Old memories of you to me have clung   You've wounded me with your words   Gonna have to straighten out your tongue   It's all true, everything you've heard      Meet me at the bottom, don't lag behind   Bring me my boots and shoes   You can hang back or fight your best on the frontline   Sing a little bit of these workingman's blues      In you, my friend, I find no blame   Wanna look in my eyes, please do   No one can ever claim   That I took up arms against you   All across the peaceful sacred fields   They will lay you low   They'll break your horns and slash you with steel   I say it so it must be so      Now I'm down on my luck and I'm black and blue   Gonna give you another chance   I'm all alone and I'm expecting you   To lead me off in a cheerful dance   I got a brand new suit and a brand new wife   I can live on rice and beans   Some people never worked a day in their life   Don't know what work even means      Chorus:   Meet me at the bottom, don't lag behind   Bring me my boots and shoes   You can hang back or fight your best on the frontline   Sing a little bit of these workingman's blues