Ok, so here it is: it comes with apologies to the original author, Pat Wilson, whom I have not met, and hope my alterations to the words to our own location won't cause any grief: I got the words from a lady who sang it in a session at Sidmouth Folk Festival a good few years back. Unfortunately I don't still have the piece of paper on which I wrote those original words, but I just changed the location in verse 2, and I think the original verse 3 was:
I worked and slaved just to earn some cash.....
I got a small flat in Knotty Ash
Other than that it is much as the original. Any "Huh's" are just groans of frustration at her fate!

HOUSEWIVES’ SHANTY
original song by Pat Wilson with Liverpool locations
amended to Edinburgh by Trish Santer

(First 2 verses written out in full but the rest follow the same pattern, apart from the last verse!)

It’s forty years I’ve been like this,
Cleaning, sweeping,
It’s forty years I’ve been like this,
Dust, dust away,
It’s forty years I’ve been like this,
I’ve been a missus longer than a miss,
And we’re all bound for Tesco’s in the mo-orning.

I met a lad from Niddrie way,
Cleaning, sweeping,
I met a lad from Niddrie way,
Dust, dust away,
I met a lad from Niddrie way,
He gave me a kiss and he made me pay,
And we’re all bound for Tesco’s in the mo-orning.

I worked and slaved with mops and pails
I got a wee flat in Wester Hailes.

Well much too soon I had children too
A scurvy, spotty, idle crew.

In a wee while more I got a part-time job
Bought a hoover and a washer and ceramic hob.

Before I die, one thing I crave,
To round the Horn on my microwave.

The work is hard, and the hours are long,
Cleaning, sweeping,
The work is hard, and the hours are long,
Dust, dust away,
The work is hard, and the hours are long,
And I haven’t any time to finish this song……………………………………………….