Cartin’ Sleepers

Some hold saints and some hold sinners

I know when day is done

Six foot long, they weighed a ton

I’d cart and stack ‘em one by one

Wringing wet and full of splinters

I ‘d know when day was done

Hard and rough, straight off the saw

By morning smoko half a score

Felt my back when day was done    

That’s when I said “ no more”                                    

Situation vacant - morning paper

For an assistant undertaker

Nice position, top of town

Next to Bill the Baker

“This little job” said the undertaker

(Adjacent the cook and pastry maker)

“Needs the skills to work with wood

It’s yours if you’ll take ’er”

Life you see culminates in wood

Often a coffin comes up good

Timber that shimmers, handles shine

Just like it should

I lift them up, puts ‘em to bed

I cart ‘and stack - don’t be misled

In each box resides a “sleeper”

It’s as heavy as lead

If someone asks "how are you"

I like to tell 'em straight and true

"Just the same still cartin' sleepers

Got the melancholy blues"

Six foot long, they weigh a ton

I cart and stack ‘em one by one

Some hold saints and some hold sinners

I know when day is done

Some hold saints and some hold sinners

I know when day is done

Cartin’ Sleepers: A. Mann

For a man cutting railway sleepers for a living, the chance of a change of job while still using his timber skills must have seemed attractive.  But he found that the new job, as assistant undertaker, still had him “Cartin’ Sleepers”.