{"id":22738,"date":"2023-12-14T11:17:24","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T11:17:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=22738"},"modified":"2025-12-10T07:12:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T07:12:36","slug":"fathers-got-a-job","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/fathers-got-a-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Father’s got a job"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1910<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Jean Havez<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RNV7454<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Maidie Scott, Frank Seeley<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
none<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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From monologues.co.uk at The Wayback Machine<\/a>\nFather's got a job<\/strong>\n\nThe chord of discontent once sounded in our domicile\nAnd on the family physog you scarce could see a smile\nBecause a nasty rumour went around with such a vim\nIt was that Father would not work, and everybody worked but him\nWhen Father heard the rumour, how bitterly he swore\nHe'd sit beside the fire for hours, and cuss and sleep and snore\nHis friends came to his rescue, and it made his poor heart throb\nBefore he could defend himself, they got poor Dad a job.\n\nMother's delighted, sister is glad\nEverybody's happy now but poor old Dad\nHe's got a job of work at last. It's time that he began\nHe cannot shirk, he's got to work, has our old man.<\/em>\n\nOur friends and neighbours sympathise with poor old Father so\nThey formed a Willing Worker's Club to keep him on the go\nPoor Dad got sick and would not take the pills Ma bought so cheap\nBecause he saw upon the box 'We work while you're asleep'\nThe butcher and the baker, and everyone Dad owed\nAll joined the Club to find Dad jobs, such loyalty they showed\nThey set him sweeping out a bank. He worked on such a scale\nHe swept the safe, as well as floor, so now Dad works in jail.\n\nThe Willing Worker's Club worked hard to keep poor dad in jail\nBut there they worked the old man so, that he grew thin and pale\nHis friends they found a home for him where he'd grow good and strong\nThat he might live to fill the job they'd hunted up for him so long\nThe place, which they had found, was called the home for working men\nWhen Father saw the name, he said 'That's back to jail again'\nOne Sunday Father went to church. This hymn the preacher read\n'Work for the night is coming on' and poor old Dad dropped dead.\n\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A recording or download of this song can be purchased from Windyridge CDs.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is not the song that was collected by Steve Roud from the singing of Freda Palmer – so far as I know it has not entered the repertoire of traditional singers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maidie Scott<\/a> performed a series of songs about her workshy father, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n