The lorries roll through St. John Street and stir up the dust,
Never seems to settle nowadays;
There's a young man in the corner, he's watching the rigs blow by,
He doesn't know how to drive and he cant afford to learn,
And he collects his money every week and turns the other cheek,
It's not easy when you're down on the dole.
His sister's up in Glasgow, at the boarding school,
She's planning to become a teacher;
But Mick, he dropped out early, never cared too much for school,
He left to go and labour at the quarry;
And now the crusher's all closed down,
And there's no work to be found,
And that's the reason that he's down on the dole.
He's not the only one who's unemployed,
It seems half his friends these days are out of work;
And this town's felt their frustration, their anger and their shame,
It's left them with an emptiness inside;
Well, the dole boys have broken all the rules,
All the windows in their old high schools,
There's always time when you're down on the dole.
Home life's become uneasy, it seems that all they do is talk
Of how well Annie's doing up in Glasgow;
Well, his folks are sympathetic, but they just don't understand
A young man still trying to find his way;
He dreams of places he has never been,
Somewhere other than his own back green;
They're only dreams when you're down on the dole.
He looks forward to the springtime, lend the farmers a hand,
Building dykes and mending broken gates;
They can't afford to pay much but he doesn't mind,
You see, it satisfies him knowing that he's needed,
'Cause there's been no work for so long;
Soon the spirit will be gone,
And there's no future when you're down on the dole.