Unnecessary Toil

 You had better find a shovel you can lean on
 Or a spade with its blade in the soil
 For a penny to a pound if they catch you hanging round
 They will dose you with unnecessary toil
 You had better find a corner you can hide in
 Find a gate with a squeak you can oil
 Find some wood and stick a screw in
 Just make sure you are doing
 Or they'll dose you with unnecessary toil

 It will make you strong
 It will make you fit
 Does it do you any good
 It will surely taste like
 What's it matter

 Find some soil and move it
 If you don't know where to put it dig a hole
 Then they will have you dig another
 You can fill it from the other
 Making sure you are not a number in the dole

 You had better find a shovel you can lean on
 Or a spade with its blade in the soil
 For a penny to a pound if they catch you hanging round
 They will dose you with unnecessary toil
 You had better find a corner you can hide in
 Find a gate with a squeak you can oil
 Find some wood and stick a screw in
 Just make sure you are doing
 Or they will dose you with unnecessary toil

 They will have you moving mountains with a teaspoon
 Or maybe counting pebbles on a beach
 But if they catch you wasting time
 Doing nothing is a crime
 You are a lounger
 You are a scrounger
 You are a leech

 You had better be a packhorse
 Or a hewer
 Not a gunner gonna do it or retreat
 There's a bucket and a sewer
 Get to work you idle poor
 Well at least it keeps the voters off the street

 It will make you strong
 It will make you fit
 Does it do you any good
 It will surely taste like
 What's it matter

 Find some soil and move it
 If you don't know where to put it dig a hole
 Then they will have you dig another
 You can fill it from the other
 Making sure you are not a number in the dole

 It doesn't really matter what you are doing
 You are a figure to be massaged into shape
 If your futures is looking hazy
 Well it must be that you are lazy
 Find a vaulting horse to climb in and escape
 You'd better find a sky hook or a long stand
 Fill a kettle you can sit and watch it boil
 Start a racket
 Earn a packet
 Find a workforce and then sack it
 And then treat them to unnecessary toil

 It will make you strong
 It will make you fit
 Does it do you any good
 It will surely taste like
 What's it matter

 Find some soil and move it
 If you don't know where to put it dig a hole
 Then they will have you dig another
 You can fill it from the other
 Making sure you are not a number in the dole

 You had better find a shovel you can lean on
 Or a spade with its blade in the soil
 For a penny to a pound if they catch you hanging round
 They will dose you with unnecessary toil
 You had better find a corner you can hide in
 Find a gate with a squeak you can oil
 Find some wood and stick a screw in
 Just make sure you are doing
 Or they will dose you with unnecessary toil
 Fly a sub, push a ferry,
 There’s a bone to go and bury