Big Boss Man Blues
Another version, for the 80's
just a thump on the bass line in E is all you need….
Tune and refrain from Jimmy Reed’s blues classic
Big Boss Man,
can’t you hear me when I call?
Big Boss Man,
can’t you hear me when I call?
Well, you ain’t so big,
you just tall,
that’s all.
SPOKEN: You ever tried cabbin’ in Detroit?...
Well, I pushed a Checker Cab
12 hours every night.
I bought my boss so many cabs,
but my own car ain’t right.
Big Boss Man,
can’t you hear me when I call?
Well, you ain’t so big,
you just tall,
that’s all.
Well, the cab boss rides a Caddy,
lives off the fat of the land,
while the cabby roams the ghetto
and dies at the gunman’s hand.
Big Boss Man....
In the plants now, in the plants....
Well, I worked for Henry Ford
in his Cleveland Foundry hell,
lifted a hundred cores an hour
just to keep from gettin’ bored.
Big Boss Man....
I worked for Ford’s in Cleveland,
Engine Plant Number 2,
72 hours on the crank line
until my feet turned blue.
Big Boss Man....
Listen, Mr. Foreman,
slow down that assembly line.
You know I don’t mind workin’,
but I surely do mind dyin!*
Big Boss Man....
Workin’ twelve hours a day,
seven long days in the week,
come home and lie down in the bed,
Lord knows I’m too tired to sleep!
Big Boss Man...
Enjoy it, Hank,** enjoy it
in Europe and Grosse Pointe.
Someday us poor workers
Gonna take the whole damn joint!
Big Boss Man....
Well, he didn’t take it with him did he?
All right, now, Chrysler’s....
Six months from retirement,
known to be in bad health
they doubled his workload at Chrysler,
they worked that man to death.
Big Boss Man....
Great Lakes Steel....
They spilled some molten metal
down at Zug Island Mill.
30 days later he died of burns --
now how does his wife feel?
Big Boss Man....
On the streets....
My neighbor couldn’t make it
on a stinkin’ welfare check
She sold her body on the corner,
now she’s just a wreck.
Big Boss Man....
So let’s get political....
Well, Reagan got elected
to make the rich more rich,
(That goes for Bush too....)
while you an me are scufflin’
down here in the ditch.
Big Boss Man....
You hear them thousand candidates
promise lovely shit?
But you know that winner’s gonna have
a big amnesia fit!
Big Boss Man....
Did you see Jesse give Bush the bro handshake?
I guess George is part of the Rainbow Coalition now!
We voted for the Democrats
(I’m talkin’ 1964, now....)
to keep a war away,
but we got sent to Viet Nam
“All the Way with LBJ!”
Big Boss Man....
Yeah the Democrats are just as big a war-makers
as the Republicans,
They’re just trickier that’s all....
Maybe you didn’t want it
but they’re gonna start a war
Save the world for Standard Oil
that’s what you’ll be fightin’ for!
Big Boss Man....
Pick it up now, pick it up....
Well, why don’t you take some action,
march or go on strike?
Hit the boss where it hurts,
do what he don’t like!
Big Boss Man....
We’re gonna get rid of these boss men,
cause they don’t treat us right.
Workin’ folk gonna run everything
so we can sleep at night.
Big Boss Man,
you can’t hear me when I call!
Well, you ain’t so big,
you just tall,
that’s all.