[Verse 1: Preacher-cadence male MC, rising and falling like a sermon] Brothers, sisters, can I get the back row quiet Can I get the coffee down, can I get you to try it I been driving forks for Halverson for nineteen years I seen men lift forty pounds for twelve hours through the tears I seen Darnell cut his palm and tape it with the shipping tape I seen Lupe work a double with a fever and a shake I seen men go home bent like a question with no end And come back on a Monday to get bent like that again Now the boss sent a man in a blue golf shirt He's standing by the door, and he's gonna count the hurt [Pre-Hook: Preacher-cadence male MC] So I'm asking you now, and I'm asking out loud I want every single palm from the front of this crowd [Hook: Preacher-cadence male MC] Show of hands, put 'em up where the man can see Every hand that loaded his trucks at three Show of hands, he can count 'em from the street These are the hands that move your money, now watch 'em move their feet [Verse 2: Preacher-cadence male MC, hotter, a sermon at full boil] Look at your hands, look at the calluses, look at the scars Look at the knuckles that you busted on the bed of the cars Old Pete over there got eight fingers to his name Left two in the conveyor, and they never paid the same He says "Ray, I can't vote, I only got eight to raise" I said "Pete, put up the eight, that's the loudest hand in the place" They cut the pension at the meeting and they gave us pizza, nice I don't want another pizza, I don't want a slice I want a raise you can feel, and I don't want to ask him twice [Hook: Preacher-cadence male MC] Show of hands, put 'em up where the man can see Every hand that loaded his trucks at three Show of hands, he can count 'em from the street These are the hands that move your money, now watch 'em move their feet [Bridge: Preacher-cadence male MC, the beat thins, one kick per line] Say it with me if you mean it, keep it quiet if you don't He bet his whole bonus on a room that says we won't All in favor, let me see it All in favor, let him count it [Verse 3: Preacher-cadence male MC, chair scrape, three hundred folding chairs scrape back as the hall stands] And the chairs go back, and the hall stands up And the man in the golf shirt drops his coffee cup He's counting, he's counting, he's running out of hands He's calling up the office, and the office understands 'Cause the hands don't come down, and the hands don't sit The hands go out the door, and the hands don't quit Picket by the gate with the morning on our backs Every truck in Halverson is sitting on its tracks You can count us all you want, you can write it on a sheet The vote is on the sidewalk, and the vote has got feet [Hook: Preacher-cadence male MC] Show of hands, put 'em up where the man can see Every hand that loaded his trucks at three Show of hands, he can count 'em from the street These are the hands that move your money, now watch 'em move their feet [End]
