From The Cradle To The Grave
Well they took you from your
mother's womb and put you in a school
Told you how to run your life
by following the rules
Told you not to pick your nose
or disrespect the queen
Scrub your teeth three times a
day keep mind and body clean
Save up all your pocket money,
nothing is for free
And you'd better trust your
parents cos there's no one else you see
And then they send you off each
day remember what you're told
"You may think you don't need
teaching but you'll need it when you're old"
And if you're too intelligent
they'll cut you down to size
They'll praise you til you're
happy then they'll fill you full of lies
Cos intelligence is threatening
and genius is sin
If you could ever see through
them they know they'd never win
So they channel your ability
into the right direction
If you're good enough and rich
enough you can be a politician
On the other hand if your too
thick they'll tell you that you're lazy
They'll put you down and wind
you up until it drives you crazy
They'll say you ought to learn
a trade to help you in your life
Success is written in three
parts: A job, a house, a wife
They'll say that school
prepares you for the awesome world outside
Well it certainly gives you
bigotry and patriotic pride
Racism, sexism teacher to class
From school to work remains the
sameare you white and middle class?
You'll learn that bad men dress
in black and good men dress in white
And the pamphlets in the
playground say that's right
And that girls were made for
housework and boys were made to fight
And the naughty pictures on
page 3 make everything alright
And so from school to the
outside world these morals you will take
And unless you can reject them
you'll have your mind at stake
They'll give you a decision
when you get to 18, too
The right to vote for someone
else who says he cares for you
But the only thing he cares
about is getting to the top
By conning you with empty words
that promise you a lot
But the end result is slavery
to a false set of ideals
You'll be tempted to believe
them cos they'll seem so very real
The slavery of attitudes that
make you keep in line
Subconsciously devoted to the
morals of our time
And when you end up on the dole
which you very likely will
They'll offer you a brand new
trade: Learning how to kill
Why don't you join the army? Be
a man and not a fool
There's someone else to think
for you just like there was at school
They'll promise you absolution
from the murders you'll commit
In the name of god and country
they can get away with it
They fill you full of orders
and promise you rewards
Like busting up your family by
sending you abroad
A holiday in Germany or Iceland
or Hong Kong
Making money being useless well
it seems it can't go wrong
But then it's off to Northern
Ireland where you'll practice what they preached
You'll shoot to keep yourself
alive and kill to keep the peace
And then it won't be so much
fun as you hear the wounded crying
Cos before they couldn't speak
english and you didn't know what they were saying
But when the children call you
"Bastard" it will make you think again
When you cannot tell the
difference between animals and men
Animals don't wear uniforms but
they kill as much as you
But the army kills for money
and animals kill for food
It's the basest degredation in
the name of what is right
Become something you never were
and regret it til you die
Cos your father will tell you
"Sonny, you must do as you are told"
And you'll say the same thing
to your kids when you're 32 years old
And unless you can react
against the brainwash from the start
Your government will rule your
mind and your mind will rule your heart
You'll conform to every social
law and be the system's slave
From birth to school to work to
death, from the cradle to the grave