Lyrics - The Song of the Plough

We built them a school with a seat near the window,
Too high for a child's eye to see the bright sky,
We gave them a list of the rules of good living,
'Aim low if you want to, but don't aim too high'
We showed them thew place they could take in the factory,
We taught them to speak and the things they should say,
We measured potential, along with their shoe size.
We taught them the game, but my God, they won't play

Chorus:
And away, away, the children are running,
Each to the place that they're wanting to go,
Away, Away, the children are running...
They don't want to learn what we want them to know,
And the children are running away

We taught them their sex and their class and position,
We taught them to add and subtract and to spell.
We gave them a list of the rules of good living:
Be good go to Heaven, be bad go to Hell.
Come back, we need leaders to make the decisions,
Come back, we need experts with sword and with pen,
Come back, we need surgeons to make the incisions,
Come back, we need heroes and martyrs of men.

There's no room at the top for sweet sensitive dreamers,
No room at the top for your softies and weeds,
No room at the top for poetical fancy,
Society pays for society's needs.
Come back, we need robots with suitable functions,
Come back, we need toadies to greaze the machine.
Come back, there is room for you all in our system,
Come back, we need soldiers to die for the queen.

The Song of the Plough
© Nick Keir MCPS/PRS
From album - 'Peace and Plenty' (Greentrax CT TRAX 002)

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