The Work of the Weaver

We’re all met together here to sit and to crack
Wi’ oor glasses in oor hands and oor work upon oor back
And there’s no trade amang tham a’ can either mend or mak’
If it wasna for the work o’ the weavers

chorus:
If it wasna for the weaver what would they do
We woulkdna ha’ claith made o’ oor woo’
We wouldna ha’ a cost neither black nor blue
Gin it wanna for the work o’ the weavers

The hireman chiels they mock us and crack aye aboot’s
They say that we are thin faced, bleached like cloots:
But yet for a’ their mockery they canna dae without:
Na! They canna want the work o’ the weavers.

There’s oor wrichts and oor slaters and glaziers and a’
Oor deoctors and oor ministers and them that live by law
And oor friends in South Americy, though them we never saw
But we ken they wear the work o’ the weavers.

There’s oor sailors and oor sodgers, we ken that they’re a’bauld
But if they hadna claes, faith, they couldna fecht for cauld:
The high and the low, the rich and puir, a’ body young and old
They winna want the work o’ the weavers

There’s folk thats independant o’ ither tradesman’s work
The women ned nay barbers and dykers need nae clerk
But none o’ them can dae wi’oot a coat or a sark
Na! They canna want the work o’ the weavers.

The weaving is a trade that never can fail,
As lang’s we need ae cloot to keep anither hale
So let us aye be merry over a bicker o’ good ale,
And drink to the health o’ the weavers.