MAYPOLE
| MENU | |||||||||
|
lyrics & tune - chas - - inspired by a thought i had in a history class that perhaps it would be better if we had no knowledge of the past at all the irony that i became a history lecturer isn't lost on me now id say that the things i was going on about here merely illustrate the need for a thorough understanding of history and the ability to rationally analyze tradition that ought to be the hallmark of a good education in the discipline of history. those who forget the past may be condemned to repeat it but those who merely remember it tend to confuse it with the present. either way its still an interesting thought
dance round the maypole, blind lead the blind,
and in their minds they are gazing behind.
suits in the morning scrabble for money,
border patrols lining national boundaries,
wives bearing babes in the time-honoured way,
all stop with the clock on remembrance day.
arranging the ornaments as they've always been,
exotic varieties remaining unseen.
roots reaching deep, traditions undead,
line out the route waving blue, white and red:
out of time and out of your minds.
his lordship berobed, smiling, benign
is a part of the routine insanity
and his line stretches out to infinity.
from the slap on the back chained by history,
taught to live lives like our ancestry;
and the hopes and fears of all the years
are brought to us and bring us tears
by the teachers and gods looking down from above
on fighting children born full of love.
avoiding the eyes above england tattoos
while the maypole spins senseless, its workings unseen;
like the world that's our prison and wants nothing new
and the men behind desks stamping insane
on files marked handle with difficulty,
whose work stretches out to infinity.