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Image  Dwellers in Circleville’s “Hooverville,” central Ohio, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Photograph Collection, U.S. Library of Congress, LC-USF33- 006580-M

Lyrics

Idle hands don’t suit me, I don’t know how to spend my day
Idle hands don’t much suit me, don’t know how to spend my day
Sign on the gate said ‘No men wanted’—
I waited in line there anyway

‘Cause I tried asking for work, then raising my fist in the air
I tried asking for work sir, and then raising my fist in the air
But the bossman he don’t need me—
An the bankerman just don’t care

See when I did worked the factory, I felt no shame being poor
But on account of them big boys ain’t no jobs here no more
That’s why you’ll find me a ghost of who I once was
‘Cause a man’s only as good as what a man does

So the devil lies  waiting for the idle it’s true
But the devil must be waiting for the bankerman too
‘Cause to kill a man’s pride surely must be a sin
So I’m gonna save a place here in this hell that I’m in