3: Insert at top of head: The Bureau
The Bureau

Alex Clarke of Dundee: On Autumn Harvest ah006: Old Songs & Bothy Ballads: Nick-knack on the Waa. Live from the Fife Traditional Singing Festival May 2007.

The Bureau (the Unemployment Assistance Board) was set up in the 1930s to administer means tested family benefits. The lads are "on the Bureau" when one job after another goes wrong.

1 We're the lads fae the tap o the hill,
We never worked, never will,
We're on the Bureau;
We're the lads fae Mid Craigie,
Whar there's work ye'll no see me,
We're on the Bureau;
We got a job at Walker's at the spinnin,
We sang that sang Oor Maggie had a Bairn,
Oh the gaffer didna like that sang,
We werena in the job verra lang,
Spinnin bye, bye.

2 We're the lads fae the tap o the hill,
We never worked, never will,
We're on the Bureau;
We're the lads fae Mid Kirk Style,
If we saw work we'd run for a mile,
We're on the Bureau;
We got a job in the boatyaird at the stagin,
Wisna lang before we had the gaffer ragin,
For we stood on a plank that wisna there,
An we went flyin through the air,
Boatyaird bye, bye.
3 We're the lads fae the tap o the hill,
Never worked, never will,
We're on the Bureau;
We're the lads fae the Gelly Burn,
If we see work we'll dae aboot turn,
We're on the Bureau;
We got a job wi Johnny Lang the bookie,
Collectin lines at the corner o St Rookie
We gien oot to much sub,
Spent the rest in Rosie's pub,
Bookie bye, bye.

4 We're the lads fae the tap o the hill,
Never worked, never will,
We're on the Bureau;
We're the lads fae Norrie's Pend,
Never worked, don't intend,
We're on the Bureau;
We went doon ae Friday for oor money,
The cash clerk says, "Now lads ye think ye're funny,
You've run oot o stamps ye see,
Now ye're on the UAB,
Bureau bye, bye."

A Royal Commission on Unemployment was set up in 1930 at a time of considerable poverty and high unemployment. This led to the 1934 Unemployment Assistance Board (the UAB referred to in the last verse) that was set up to administer household means tested benefits - and later abolished during the war in 1941.

c p 2008 Autumn Harvest : www.springthyme.co.uk