Ya wake up in the morning
The dawn's as black as night
Your mother's shouting up the stairs
And you know she's winning the fight
Well, you best venture out of bed, me lad
'Cause you know it's getting late
Then it's down the stairs and up the street
And through the factory gate

Turning steel, how do you feel
As in the chuck you spin?
If you felt like me you'd roll right out
And never turn again

Wet and bleak the morning
As you squeeze in through the gate
As you clock in, the bell will ring
Eight hours is your fate
Off comes your coat all wet and damp
And ''Right, lads'' is the cry
With and eye on the lathe and the other on the clock
You'll wish the time would fly

Turning steel, how do you feel
As in the chuck you spin?
If you felt like me you'd roll right out
And never turn again

The gaffer's walking down the shop
And so it's work ya must
The dizzy, grinding, groaning metal
The hot air and the dust
But I'm often thinking of me girl
While walking through the park
While gazing at the blooming steel
And a million flying sparks

Turning steel, how do you feel
As in the chuck you spin?
If you felt like me you'd roll right out
And never turn again

Old Tom Black last Friday
His final bell did ring
With his hair as white as his face beneath
And his oily, sunken skin
Well he's made a speech and he's bid farewell
To a lifetime working here
As I shook his hand, I knew that he
Had labored fifty years

Turning steel, how do you feel
As in the chuck you spin?
If you felt like me you'd roll right out
And never turn again

And when at last me time it comes
And I can leave this place
I'll walk out past the charger's desk
And I'll never turn me face
Out through them gates into the sun
I'll leave this place behind
With but one regret, for the lads I've left
To carry on the grind

Turning steel, how do you feel
As in the chuck you spin?
If you felt like me you'd roll right out
And never turn again