She had some good O levels And she was seventeen And he sold double-glazing Always looked neat and clean. Each night he'd come around to take her out And in his mother's spare-room showed her Just what life was all about. No one was too surprised To learn a child was on its way. They chose a ring together Named an early wedding-day. The church was full when there arrived the telegram that read 'I've gone abroad. Stop. The wedding's off. Stop' That's when her mother said...
Seemed such a nice boy Seemed like a real nice kind of boy Seemed such a nice boy at the time Seemed such a nice boy Seemed like a real nice kind of boy Seemed such a nice boy at the time
George made a pile in textiles His hair was silver-grey Collected Meissen china And was discretely gay. He met a young man who'd been sleeping rough Said he didn't want his money Said his friendship was enough. The boy moved in and made The great big house a happy home. George went to work each morning Left the lad there on his own. Came back one night to find the front door open And all the lights turned on And the boy, twelve hundred pounds And all his precious porcelain gone (and he said...)
Seemed such a nice boy Seemed like a real nice kind of boy Seemed such a nice boy at the time Seemed such a nice boy Seemed like a real nice kind of boy Seemed such a nice boy at the time
Oh the heartache when we realise Charming people have told charming lies. We're sadder now but does that make us wise?
He spoke to us on TV In words we'd understand. Made other politicians Look cheap and underhand. He looked so young and yet so unafraid. The country voted in a landslide Now we'd see some changes made. We didn't understand his reasons For the foreign war And when the kids protested He brought in martial law. Though six black years have passed we still ask why And from behind the wire and searchlights Comes the terrible reply...
Seemed such a nice boy Seemed like a real nice kind of boy Seemed such a nice boy at the time Seemed such a nice boy Seemed like a real nice kind of boy Seemed such a nice boy at the time
JUDGE SAYS:
There's not too much more I can tell you about this song, except to say that it was written before the Prime Minister decided that it might be a nice idea to invade Iraq.
For non-UK listeners
'O levels' were, or still are for all I know (I have no children), the basic level of the UK General Certificate of Education.
Sadly, telegrams seem now to have fallen out of use, in this country at any rate, but one endearing oddity of the system was that the 'message format' did not support punctuation, so that any stops or commas had to be spelt out.