There's a man walking round the island with a snake cane He picked it up in Thailand from a hurricane And you know he's not gonna go there He's been one time too long Now all the gods are gone
The younger boys are drowning in a shallow sea The night belongs to snipers in palm trees And their sabres flashed like lightning In the charge of the last brigade They must have been afraid
Soldiers have their sorrow The wretched have their rage Pray for the aged it's the dawn of another age Of another age Of another age Of another age
The blood running down the blackboard on a blank screen The convicts shake their cages of a bad dream And they'll coach you in the classroom that it cannot happen here But it has happened here
I remember nothing that I memorized I got my education from a black eye And they'll teach you law and order If you dare to raise your hand Spare the glove and spoil the man
Soldiers have their sorrow The wretched have their rage Pray for the aged It's the dawn of another age Of another age Of another age
Thomas Paine and Jesse James are old friends And Robin Hood is riding on the road again We were born in a revolution and we died in a wasted war It's gone that way before
The dogs are chasing chicken bones across the lawn If that was an election, I'm a Viet Cong So I pledge allegiance against the flag And the flaw for which it stands I'll raise it if I can
Soldiers have their sorrow The wretched have their rage Pray for the aged It's the dawn of another age Of another age Of another age Of another age Of another age