Lyrics

The builders are earning their daily bread And they make sure they eat it every day at one o'clock And the foreman knocks it on the head And they take up their tools at roughly two on the dot The cranes, they built this town Girder by girder, so high off the ground And the cranes, they built this town The temps' off-the-phone voices gossip as they type And they file to the tube every night at five o'clock And the clerks knock back their halves and pints, look at the crosswords and girls' legs till the train's next stop And the cranes, they built this town Not even a war could bring it down And the cranes, they built this town The taxis glisten black in rows at the station He got his first fare outside the bar at twelve o'clock And he half-listens with an ear's worth of patience The drunk and his fare-dodging friend in the back Outside, cranes like the skeletons of giants with one great arm After the wrecking ball comes the calm And the cranes, they built this town And they'll build it up again if it ever falls down And the cranes, they built this town The housewife's dreams evaporate as her husband's nightshift ends at eight And she walks the kids down to the park Where the bushes still hide the dirty litter of the dark And the cranes, they built this town The cranes, they built this town The cranes, they built this town The cranes, they built this town The cranes