Roaring Jack - Playing For The Traffic lyrics

You could have seen him any day up the back of Martin Place In a battered Sunday suit that's seen far better days Blowing on a mouth harp with the kind of wit and grace That would bring a smile to the face of a broken clock And there was not a verse or chorus the old bugger didn't know From Mother Kelly's Doorstep to The Banks of the Ohio The typists and the tellers didn't want to bloody know Dealing with their dose of future shock He was playing for the traffic and the nine to fivers Tooraloo you're bound for Botany Bay And he gave more to this world than all the penny-pinching ba*tards That turned around and looked the other way Well, I stood a while to listen and he played the thing with ease But the crowd that day was tighter than a Pom at a wine and cheese Maybe they were hard up or just plain hard to please But no one put a single cent his way So I reached into my pocket to even up the score And dropped a pile of change into the tin plate on the floor When you work the streets they treat you like a sleeper And no one ought to ever feel that way He was playing when I left him, with a new crowd to convince I often look out for him but he's not been back there since Did anybody notice, does anybody wince At some old digger picking through the trash In this land of milk and honey where there's more than enough for all Why did he spend his whole life with his back against the wall Did he fight in two world wars to wind up with sweet f**k all Working on the street for a bit of stash