Album: Down the Road Wherever (2018)

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• I never got the elbow
  Just telling you
  Before you go
  Only telling you
  Just so you know
  
  I never got the elbow
  I slung it in
  Had it up to here
  I just pulled the pin
  Went and had a beer
  
  I used to love a bit of folding
  Just for getting by
  A wad of cash
  Now that's out of date
  And so am I
  As pie and mash
  
  S'cuse me, s'cuse me
  Have you got my roll?
  My roll? My bacon roll?
  
  The time they took us bowling
  What was that about?
  I thought what a joke
  I just went out
  And had a smoke
  
  Then the white water rafting
  Just some know-it-all
  With the new regime
  There to show us all
  How to build a team
  
  He says, "what do you think we're doing?"
  I said, "don't ask me
  I've no idea"
  They all laughed at that
  That was pretty funny actually
  
  S'cuse me, s'cuse me
  Have you got my roll?
  My roll? My bacon roll?
  Have you got my roll?
  My roll? My bacon roll?
  
  I could order you a toastie
  Just like that one there
  Or the same in plain white bread
  When you're dealing with a toastie
  What do you prefer
  Brown or red?
  
  I never got the elbow
  Just telling you
  Before you go
  Only telling you
  Just so you know Writer/s: Mark Knopfler
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 4

• AnonymousThe bacon roll rather than say a crushed avocado toastie is a symbol of how the man is lost in the modern working world. He was sacked for not playing the game...
• John Wallace from SpainWell, I don't know where you did your team-building but when I was involved we certainly didn't start with a bacon roll. The bacon roll, has has already been stated, is symbolic of a working man and his life. We used to have bacon rolls when I was working at London Airport Gatwick in its very early days. I was on maintenance. We started early and at 9.30 a.m. the trolley lady would appear with the bacon rolls. Later, when I actually ran team-building, our fare was somewhat more exotic than a bacon roll. This is England in in the sixties so maybe it's different in the rest of the world.
• Keith De La Rue from Melbourne, AustraliaI can understand this song from two different perspectives. The man who inspired the song may have been in a labouring job, but as Phil has commented, the rest of the lyrics suggest someone rebelling against "team-building" exercises. I have been on both sides of this - being in a technical job role when the team-building people were brought in (and rebelling against it), and later leading team-building exercises myself for teams of technical people who reacted pretty much the same way as the man in the song. Yes, this happens in sales teams, but also when organisations of all types wish to "modernise" more traditional working roles, or upskill people into new roles and structures. I totally get it.
• Phil Norman from UkThe above explanation totally incorrect, surely the whole context of the song was about Corporate life, possibly in a Sales organisation which typically embarks on Morale boosting exercises such as Taking the Team Bowling or even White Water water Rafting and on these days the team would assemble to begin the day with a bacon roll.

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