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Quick and Dirty Does It

Notes on "Quick and Dirty Does It"

My friend Victor says this song shows a depth of bitterness and cynicism that could only come from a long period of work in a large corporation. 

He has a point. The line about the "guy with an MBA"? More generally, the song got its start from two sources.  One was a friend's description of two francophone Canadians having an earnest discussion (at a hockey game, no less) of the correct translation of "quickie".

The other was indeed my former work experiences - all of them.  Every workplace had its pet phrase - "good enough for government work", "close enough for rock and roll", etc. - to describe a job that no one was going to take the time to get perfect. Seemed to me those two ideas belonged together.

They came together at the 1999 SongAlong at Rasputin's folk cafe in Ottawa. "Quick and Dirty"  wasn't my official songalong song, but we always sang another one, and that year Dean Verger (owner of the late great folk cafe) decided to record and produce a CD of people's efforts - which became another part of the annual tradition.  The title of this song seemed to fit the mood of the occasion, and it became the title track of that first CD.

The first performance was pretty raw - but got the point across. When you hear the CD version you'll see there were a number of changes. It contains a fabulous solo by guitarist Danny Artuso.

Quick and Dirty Does It

Words and Music © David Keeble, March 23, 1999, revised April 27, 1999

 

You know I really didn't want to go to work today,
The boss came screamin’ by, in his normal way
Said, “Drop everything, we're gonna work all night, we got a crisis, can’t you see!”
Well I think it’s time for a bit of productivity.

Chorus:
Quick and dirty does it, quick and dirty does it,
If that’s where we’re goin’, then quick and dirty does it for me.

You spend half your life, you learn how to do a job right.
So you can take a little pride in your work when you leave at night.
But then some jerk with an MBA, says you can do twice the work for half the pay,
If that’s where we’re goin’, there’s just one thing to say:

Chorus

He’s a man in a hurry, wants a job done
Made up his mind that I am the one
Who can do it right now, with a money-back guarantee.
You know, sometimes they just don’t give you a choice between speed and quality.
And If that’s where we’re goin’, then quick and dirty does it for me.

Chorus

I didn’t think I wanted to come to this party tonight.
But the drinking and the dancing soon had me feeling all right.
Then I was caught in a corner by a lady with a look and a certain urgency,
And if that’s where we’re goin’, then quick and dirty does it for me.

Chorus

She’s a gal in a hurry, wants a job done,
Made up her mind that I am the one
Who can do it right now, with a money-back guarantee.
You know, sometimes they just don’t give you a choice between speed and quality
And if that’s where we’re going, then quick and dirty does it for me.

Last Chorus:
Quick and dirty does it, quick and dirty does it,
If that’s where we’re goin’, then quick and dirty does it,
If that’s where we’re goin’, then quick and dirty does it
If that’s where we’re goin’, then quick and dirty does it for me.

Here is the recording of that first live performance.

And here's a sample of the recording on the CD.

And a chord chart if you want to play along - I play it capo'd up to the third fret, so here's a chart from that position's point of view.