Joy of Labour

Album: Snake Bite Love (1998)
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  • Woke up dead, you know I woke up dead
    Give me time to get it through my head
    They hanged me by the neck, I heard the devil laugh
    I was a nervous wreck, I was the first in line

    Do you want to look right in the devil's face?
    You must have seen the ground where we upheld the Law
    I was a young man then, I was a young man then
    Spending time on the killing floor
    Do as you would want to be
    Joy of labour, sets you free

    Woke up scared, you know I woke up scared
    Give me time to show you, how I wound up there
    They put me in a cell, I heard the ghost in there
    I wasn't feeling well, I was the first in line

    Do you want see right through the devil's eyes?
    You must have seen the ground where they all stood before
    I was a young man then, I was a young man then
    Spending time on the killing floor
    Be more than you seem to be
    Joy of labour, sets you free

    Woke up dead, you know I woke up dead
    I was the only one, that saw the road ahead
    They beat me with their fists
    I did the devil's work
    And I was on their list, I was the first in line

    Do you even know what the devil does
    He drives a man 'til he can't take no more
    I was a young man then, I was a young man then
    Spending time on the killing floor Writer/s: IAN FRASER KILMISTER, MICAEL KIRIAKOS DELAOGLOU, MICHAEL KIRIAKOS DELAOGLOU, PHILIP ANTHONY CAMPBELL
    Publisher: Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 1

  • Gandalf from LondonI once wrote in to an "ask Motörhead" forum to ask what this song is about... never got a reply. I don't see anything explicitly linking this song to the Holocaust, but then again given Lemmy's enormous knowledge of WW2 it's hard to imagine him writing the words "labour sets you free" (aka "Arbeit macht frei") by accident. Might just be a vague allusion or general inspiration though: there are plenty of Motörhead songs that contain references to all kinds of stuff without directly being a story about one particular thing or another. The man had a talent for churning out awesome lyrics at incredible speed.
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