Words & music (c) David A. Harley
Originally written in the early 1980s for a revue directed by Margaret Ford, but not used. Because I wanted to reflect the sort of rough humour I often encountered in various industrial settings around that time, it originally included a reference to a misogynistic ‘joke’ I’d heard about a female worker described as ‘the factory bike’, not because I found it amusing, but because it was the way people often talked in those settings. When I found the song again, I decided that any authenticity it added wasn’t worth the discomfort.
Jack-easy is slang for very easy. If I remember correctly, it was also the name of a strip cartoon in one of the tabloids about a stereotypical British workman.
Bread and beer and a roof for your head
Easy, Jack, easy
Spinning a lathe until you drop dead
Easy, Jack, take it easy
Three pound an hour while you’re on your feet
Easy, Jack, easy
And all the chips and beans you can eat
Easy, Jack, take it easy
When I was still young and in my prime
Easy, Jack, easy
I’d knock out those countersinks ten at a time
Easy, Jack, take it easy
Now I’ve got wise and a rick in my back
Easy, Jack, easy
I keep two on the table and eight on the rack
Easy, Jack, take it easy
Here comes the foreman, the king of the shop
Easy, Jack, easy
I’d give a day’s pay to see his pressures drop
Easy, Jack, take it easy
When you get your ticket, take it from me
Easy, Jack, easy
Leave eight on the table and two up your sleeve
Easy, Jack, take it easy
David A. Harley
Wheal Alice Music 