The Idiot
(Stan Rogers)

1. I often take these night shift walks
   When the foreman's not around
   I turn my back on the cooling stacks
   And make for open ground
   Far out beyond the tank-farm fence
   Where the gas flare makes no sound
   I forget the stink and I always think
   Back to that Eastern town

2. I remember back six years ago
   This western life I chose
   And every day the news would say
   Some factory's going to close
   Well, I could have stayed to take the dole
   But I'm not one of those.
   I take nothing free, and that makes me,
   An idiot, I suppose.

   Chorus:

   So I bid farewell to the Eastern town
   I never more will see
   But work I must so I eat this dust
   And breathe refinery
   Oh I miss the green and the woods and streams
   And I don't like cowboy clothes
   But I like being free and that makes me
   An idiot, I suppose.

3. So come all you fine young fellows
   Who've been beaten to the ground
   This western life's no paradise,
   But it's better than lying down.
   Oh the streets aren't clean, and there's nothing green,
   And the hills are dirty brown,
   But the government dole will rot your soul
   Back there in your home town.

   Chorus:

   So bid farewell to the Eastern town
   You never more will see.
   There's self-respect and a steady cheque
   In this refinery.
   You will miss the green and the woods and streams
   And the dust will fill your nose.
   But you'll be free, and just like me,
   An idiot, I suppose.