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White Collar Holler

Written by Nigel Russell, recorded by Stan Rogers

Satire about computer programmers in the 1970s, comparing their lives to manual labourers.

LYRICS

00:00 / 01:04

CHORUS

And it's Ho, boys, can't you code it, and program it right
Nothing ever happens in the life of mine
I'm hauling up the data on the Xerox line


Well, I rise up every morning at a quarter to eight
Some woman who's my wife tells me not to be late
I kiss the kids goodbye, I can't remember their names
And week after week, it's always the same


CHORUS


Then it's code in the data, give the keyboard a punch
Then cross-correlate and break for some lunch
Correlate, tabulate, process and screen
Program, printout, regress to the mean

 

CHORUS


Then it's home again, eat again, watch some TV
Make love to my woman at ten-fifty-three
I dream the same dream when I'm sleeping at night
I'm soaring over hills like an eagle in flight

 

CHORUS


Someday I'm gonna give up all the buttons and things
I'll punch that time clock till it can't ring
Burn up my necktie and set myself free
Cause no'one's gonna fold, bend or mutilate me.

 

CHORUS x2

Tags:

Modern, Work Song, Satire, Nth American, Bluesy

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We acknowledge the Gadigal and Bidjigal people of the Eora nation, upon whose lands we gather and sing.
We acknowledge sovereignty was never ceded. This always was and always will be Aboriginal land.

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Numerous photos by Nick Ryden 

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