[Intro — Lazy, drawling] Work away Work work away Work away Still here though [Verse 1] Got a list of things That need doing Been on the list Since last Tuesday Looked at it this morning Made some coffee Looked at it again Made some more The porch is calling Like it always does Something about The quality of the light The work will keep The work is patient The work has been there The work can wait [Pre-Chorus] Not lazy Just selective About what gets The best hours [Chorus] Work away I'll get to it Work away Give it a minute Everything that needs doing Will get done eventually Work away The sun's still up And the porch is right there And the porch is right there [Verse 2] Called it procrastination For a while Then I called it Something else The blues came through On the radio Something about the key Made the afternoon make sense Picked up the guitar That needed tuning The work list Moved to tomorrow The neighbors saw me Out there sitting They nodded like they knew Like they understood [Pre-Chorus] Not defeated Not surrendered Just parked In the necessary moment [Chorus] Work away I'll get to it Work away Give it a minute Everything that needs doing Will get done eventually Work away The sun's still up And the porch is right there And the porch is right there [Bridge — Psychedelic blues drift] There's a German word For driving without destination Just moving through To feel the moving The Krautrock bands knew Repetition is the point The groove is the destination Not where it's going The blues knew too You don't resolve it You sit inside it Till it tells you something And the work Can be like that You sit beside it Till it tells you when The American thing Was always the porch Was always the waiting That looked like wasting But the waiting had A different name The waiting was The work before the work [Spoken — Slow Southern drawl] You know what I figured out About work It gets done When it gets done And the time before it gets done Isn't wasted It's marinating Everything's marinating The song marinated Out there on the porch Three summers running Before it was a song The painting marinated Against the wall Till the wall got tired Of looking at it blank Work away Work away It's all working Even when it looks like nothing [Final Chorus — Full band] Work away Been working all along Work away It was always a song The sitting and the waiting And the porch and the light Work away That was the work That was always the work That was always the work [Outro — Krautrock repetition fading] Work away Work away Work away Work away Still here Work away Still going Work away Work Away Work Away Still Working Still Work Away
