Sting – What Have We Got? lyrics

Good people give ear to me story,
Pay attention, and none of your lip,
For I've brought you five lads and their daddy,
Intending to build ye's a ship.
Wallsend is wor habitation,
It's the place we was all born and bred.
And there's nay finer lads in the nation,
And none are more gallantly led.

What have we got, but the buzzer in the morning?
Aye, and what have we got, but the laying of a keel?
And what have we got, but the cranes above us soaring?
The commotion and the clamour in the welding of the steel?

What have we got, but the mist upon the river?
Tell me, what have we got, but the noise inside the hold?
Oh, what have we got, but the arse end of the weather?
Where we work in horizontal rain, and shiver in the cold.

What do ye got? (What do we got?)
What do ye got? (What do we got?)
You've got nowt. We've got nowt else.

What do ye got? (What do we got?)
What do ye got? (What do we got?)
You've got nowt. We've got nowt else.

What have ye got, but the singing in the cables?
Oh, what have ye got, but the ringing in your ears?
Aye, what have ye got, but the telling of the fables?
And the memories of the ships, that we've been building donkey's years.

What do ye got? (What do we got?)
What do ye got? (What do we got?)
You've got nowt. We've got nowt else.

What do ye got? (What do we got?)
What do ye got? (What do we got?)
You've got nowt. We've got nowt else.

Aye, you've got to die of something,
It's written in your fate,
Ye may as well die of a Tuesday,
And woe betide you're late.

What have ye got, all you men what's fit and able?
What have ye got, for the straining in your neck?
What have ye got, when you're laid out on the table?
And the snapping of a cable when the rigging hits the deck?

What have ye got, but the loyalty of brothers?
What have ye got, but this union of the dock?
What have ye got, a bacon sandwich from your mother?
Not a promise of another with the punching of the clock.

What do ye got? (What do we got?)
What do ye got? (What do we got?)
You've got nowt. We've got nowt else.

What do ye got? (What do we got?)
Now, what do ye got? (What do we got?)
You've got nowt. We've got nowt else.

What do ye got? (What do we got?)
What do ye got? (What do we got?)
You've got nowt. We've got nowt else.