Get Back In Line (Ray Davies Lyric and Kinks Link)

Facing the world ain't easy when there isn't anything going,
Standing at the corner waiting, watching time go by,
Will I go to work today or shall I bide my time?
'Cos when I see that union man walking down the street --
He's the man who decides if I live or I die, if I starve, or I eat.
Then he walks up to me and the sun begins to shine,
Then he walks right past and I know that I've got to get Back in the line.
Now I think of what my mama told me;
She always said that it would never ever work out.
But all I want to do is make some money
And bring you home some wine.
But I don't ever want you to see me
Standing in that line.
'Cos that union man's got such a hold over me --
He's the man who decides if I live or I die, if I starve, or I eat.
Then he walks up to me and the sun begins to shine;
Then he walks right past and I know that I've got to get Back in the line.

Get back, get back, get back, get back, get right
Back in the line.

        When I first heard this song in 1970, roughly 40 years after the start of the Great Depression, I really had no idea what Ray Davies meant by the lyric “when there isn’t anything going.”  

         Now, roughly 40 years later, I do.

Link -- Get Back In Line by The Kinks (from Lola vs. Powerman and The Moneygoround, 1970)

Photos:  Thousands of people wait in lines at For The People Jobs Fair at Atlanta Technical College, Atlanta, Georgia, August 18, 2011.