Well, he works hard on the highway underneath the burnin sun And his hands are hard and calloused from the work that he has done He pulls a dragline 'cross the country on a flatbed trailer truck He picks cotton down in Texas in the fields where he grew up He doesn't have much education, but he takes that in stride And he won't ask no-one for nothing, 'cause he's a man with a lot of pride He's a working class hero, he's a man, he's America He's a working class hero, He's a man, he's America You can see him on the scaffold, hanging 20 stories high He is the builder of the building that's growing in the sky And his spirit's on the highway, where the sweat from his brow is shed And in the coal mines in Virginia where he works until he's dead He doesn't have much education, but he takes that in stride And he won't ask no one for nothing, 'cause he's a man with a lot of pride He's a working class hero, he's a man, he's America He's a working class hero, he's a man, he's America You can see him in the stock yards, in Chicago and St. Lou And on the dock in San Francisco, and down in Houston too He is a man most like a mountain, 'cause his shoulders are so strong He demands respect and gets it, he won't let you do him wrong He doesn't have much education, but he takes that in stride He's a working class hero, he's a man, he's America He's a working class hero, He's a man, he's America