This one got used a lot by various people over the years – it has a timeless quality really, apart from in mega boom times.
I really like it still, writing this up in October 2018:
_ THERE’S NO BUSINESS _
(To the Tune of “There’s No Business Like Show Business”)
VERSE 1
The miners, the builders, the dockers, the erks,
The workers who are made to foot the bill;
The bosses, employers, directors and berks,
Who pay themselves fat bonuses at will;
The green shoots that are growing like a snail,
The companies that are about to fail.
CHORUS 1
There’s no business, just slow business, and so businesses close;
All our infrastructure is unpeeling,
Everything is rotting to the core,
Britain’s bosses all are so unfeeling,
When they’re revealing,
They’re sacking more.
CHORUS 2
We’ve no people, to grow people and so people must go,
Industry’s a turkey so decayed and old,
That leaves folks stranded out in the cold,
Everybody’s business is about to fold,
So sing, dance and amuse,
Revue gladdens the news.
I had completely forgotten that original closing couplet, aiming the song as an opening or closing number for the show. It was replaced by various couplets at times, sometimes naming Chancellors, but perennially:
The market’s out of control,
We’ll all land on the dole.
Here is a clip from the movie Annie Get Your Gun:
The following version has Ethel Merman and the lyrics if you click through: