This song mocking the staleness of office work is based loosely on railroad hollers or field hollers, songs sung by prison workers to pass the time and set the rhythm of work.
[Verse 1]
Well, I rise up every morning at a quarter to eight
Some woman who's my wife tells me not to be late
I kiss the kids goodbye, I can't remember their names
And week after week, it's always the same
[Chorus]
And it's Ho, boys, can't you code it, and program it right
Nothing ever happens in the life of mine
I'm hauling up the data on the Xerox line
[Verse 2]
Then it's code in the data, give the keyboard a punch
Then cross-correlate and break for some lunch
Correlate, tabulate, process and screen
Program, printout, regress to the mean
[Chorus]
And it's Ho, boys, can't you code it, and program it right
Nothing ever happens in the life of mine
I'm hauling up the data on the Xerox line
[Verse 3]
Then it's home again, eat again, watch some TV
Make love to my woman at ten-fifty-three
I dream the same dream when I'm sleeping at night
I'm soaring over hills like an eagle in flight
[Chorus]
And it's Ho, boys, can't you code it, and program it right
Nothing ever happens in the life of mine
I'm hauling up the data on the Xerox line
[Verse 4]
Someday I'm gonna give up all the buttons and things
I'll punch that time clock till it can't ring
Burn up my necktie and set myself free
Cause no one's gonna fold, bend or mutilate me
[Chorus]
And it's Ho, boys, can't you code it, and program it right
Nothing ever happens in the life of mine
I'm hauling up the data on the Xerox line
White Collar Holler was written by .
White Collar Holler was produced by Paul Mills.
Stan Rogers in the Between The Breaks… Live! liner notes:
When I first set out as a professional folk singer, I traveled with a fine guitar player by the name of Nigel Russell, who at that time concealed a talent for writing fine parodies of traditional songs. It wasn’t until Nigel and I went our s...