Leaving Boyhood Behind

LEAVING BOYHOOD BEHIND White shirt 'n' school tie to blue-collar, dress-code is changing with age From schooldays to pay-days, from homework to hard work School bells and game playing to work's whistle and wage earning With new mates, dirty jokes and smoking, oh where has my boyhood gone? Seven-thirty start time to five-thirty finish, playtime is shortening with age From footy-boots to work-boots, from school cap to flat-cap Five hour days and school clock to nine hour days and time-clock With clocking on, punch cards and overtime, oh where has my boyhood gone? Sitting with the lads and a big mug of tea, some things taste different with age From cream soda to warm beer, from tu'penny mix to filter-tips Learning piecework rates and new skills, paying union subs and betting slips ***-packet backs, sledge-hammers and betting, oh where has my boyhood gone? Working with Paddy in the oven's fiery heat, this is much too hot at any age From cold iron bar to white hot, from straight angle-bar to boiler-flange From the furnace to the big rolls and bend it, working fast before Lift it out, knock it flat and weld it, oh where has my boyhood gone In the Boiler-shop to learn fabrication, things mustn't drop apart with age From marking out to Oxy-gas cutting from riveting to electric arc welding Not much in the way of protection with no heath 'n' safety laws here With air-hammers, no ear-plugs or goggles, oh where has my hearing gone? Moving big metal sheets down the plate-shop, I must be getting stronger with age From plate stack to marking out table from load stable to not very safe Two tons of metal on the pulley, the chain slips and it's down with a bang Metal crashing, men jumping and cursing, oh where has my life nearly gone Day-release Thursday at college, lessons still needed with age From going to Derby and back again, from going by bus to car driving The Lacarno dance-hall at lunch-time, try chatting up girls for some fun A quick jive, some posing and a coffee, oh where has my boyhood gone Dating girls at the week-end and hoping, urges get stronger with age From meeting up early to dancing, from front seat to back seat for fun Babysitting her niece on a Tuesdays this gives us some time on our own Snogging, heavy petting and much further... boyhood gone