Industrial Disease

Album: Love Over Gold (1982)
Charted: 75
Play Video
  • Now warning lights are flashing down at quality control
    Somebody threw a spanner and they threw him in the hole
    There's rumors in the loading bay and anger in the town
    Somebody blew the whistle and the walls came down
    There's a meeting in the boardroom they're trying to trace the smell
    There's leaking in the washroom there's a sneak in personnel
    Somewhere in the corridors someone was heard to sneeze
    Goodness me could this be industrial disease?

    The caretaker was crucified for sleeping at his post
    Refusing to be pacified it's him they blame the most
    Watchdog got rabies the foreman's got fleas
    Everyone's concerned about industrial disease
    There's panic on the switchboard tongues in knots
    Some come out for sympathy, some come out in spots
    Some blame the management some the employees
    Everybody knows it's the industrial disease

    Yeah and the work force is disgusted downs tools and walks
    Innocence is injured, experience just talks
    Everyone seeks damages and everyone agrees
    That these are 'classic symptoms of a monetary squeeze'
    On ITV and BBC they talk about the curse
    Philosophy is useless theology is worse
    History boils over there's an economics freeze

    Sociologists invent words that mean 'industrial disease'
    Doctor Parkinson declared 'I'm not surprised to see you here
    You've got smokers cough from smoking, brewer's droop from drinking beer
    I don't know how you came to get the Betty Davis knees
    But worst of all young man you've got industrial disease'

    He wrote me a prescription he said 'you are depressed
    But I'm glad you came to see me to get this off your chest
    Come back and see me later - next patient please
    Send in another victim of industrial disease haha'

    Ah, splendid

    I go down to speaker's corner I'm thunderstruck
    They got free speech, tourists, police in trucks
    Two men say they're Jesus, one of them must be wrong
    There's a protest singer, he's singing a protest song - he says
    'They want to have a war to keep their factories

    They want to have a war to keep us on our knees
    They want to have a war to stop us buying Japanese
    They want to have a war to stop industrial disease
    They're pointing out the enemy to keep you deaf and blind
    They want to sap your energy incarcerate your mind
    Give ya Rule Brittania, gassy beer, page three

    Two weeks in Espana and Sunday striptease'
    Meanwhile the first Jesus says 'I'd cure it soon
    Abolish Monday mornings and Friday afternoons'
    The other one's out on a hunger strike he's dying by degrees
    How come Jesus gets industrial disease Writer/s: Mark Knopfler
    Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 5

  • Michael from DcSeems like it should have been revived for COVID, disease, class warfare and free speech tourists
  • Don Coyote from Behind, YaClose similarities in sound to "Money For Nuthin".
  • Jim from Pleasant Hill, CaOne of the best rock intro buildups in any song, though it's hard to pick a favorite. I never really knew what this track was about; assumed it was an allegory.
  • Clovis from Boca Raton, FlGreat Song. Underrated.
  • Jay from St. Louis, MoClever lyrics!
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Glen Burtnik

Glen BurtnikSongwriter Interviews

On Glen's résumé: hit songwriter, Facebook dominator, and member of Styx.

TV Theme Songs

TV Theme SongsFact or Fiction

Was a Beatles song a TV theme? And who came up with those Fresh Prince and Sopranos songs?

Dexys (Kevin Rowland and Jim Paterson)

Dexys (Kevin Rowland and Jim Paterson)Songwriter Interviews

"Come On Eileen" was a colossal '80s hit, but the band - far more appreciated in their native UK than stateside - released just three albums before their split. Now, Dexys is back.

David Bowie Lyrics Quiz

David Bowie Lyrics QuizMusic Quiz

How well do you know your David Bowie lyrics? Take this quiz to find out.

Richie Wise (Kiss producer, Dust)

Richie Wise (Kiss producer, Dust)Songwriter Interviews

Richie talks about producing the first two Kiss albums, recording "Brother Louie," and the newfound appreciation of his rock band, Dust.

Dean Pitchford

Dean PitchfordSongwriter Interviews

Dean wrote the screenplay and lyrics to all the songs in Footloose. His other hits include "Fame" and "All The Man That I Need."