Louis Armstrong Follow

W.P.A.

Louis Armstrong & The Mills Brothers (Decca, 1940)

Louis Armstrong:
Now wake up boys, get out on the rock
It ain't daybreak, but it's 4 O'clock.
Harry (?) Mills:
Oh, no, no, no, Pops, you know that ain't the play.
Louis Armstrong:
What you talkin' 'bout, it's the W.P.A.

The W.P.A.
The W.P.A.
Sleep while you work, while you rest, while you play
Lean on your shovel to pass the time away
T'ain't what you do, you can die for your pay. ***

The W.P.A.
The W.P.A.
The W.P.A.
Now don't be a fool working hard is passé
You'll stand from five to six hours a day
Sit down and joke while you smoke, it's OK.
The W.P.A.

I'm so tired, I don't know what to do
Can't get fired, so I'll take my rest until my work
is through.

The W.P.A.
The W.P.A.
Don't mind the boss if he's cross when you're gay
He'll get a pink slip next month anyway
Three little letters that make life OK.
The W.P.A.

Skeets Tolbert & His Gentlemen Of Swing's version (Decca, 1941) doesn't have the spoken intro and has this as a last stanza:

The W.P.A.
The W.P.A.
Don't mind the boss if he's cross when you're gay
You'll get a pink slip next week anyway
Nobody beefs if you loaf every day.
The W.P.A.

The second time through, Tolbert repeats the first stanza in place of the last one.

*** It's unclear whether this line is "T'ain't what you do, you can die for your pay" or "T'ain't what you do, you can die 'fore you're paid". Sometimes it sounds like one; sometimes the other.