Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger - The Ballad of Accounting lyrics

In the morning we built this city In the afternoon walked through its streets Evening saw us leaving We wandered through our days as if they would never end All of us imagined we had endless time to spend We hardly saw the crossroads and Small attention gave to landmarks In the journey from the cradle to the grave Cradle to the grave, cradle to the grave Did you learn to dream in the morning? Abandon dreams in the afternoon Wait without hope in the evening Did you stand there in the traces and let them feed you lies? Did you trail along behind them wearing blinkers on your eyes? Did you kiss the foot that kicked you? Did you thank them for their scorn? Did you ask for their forgiveness for the act of being born, act of being born, act of being born? Did you alter the face of this city? Did you make any change in the world you found? Or did you observe all the warnings? Did you read this trespa** notice that you keep off the gra**? Did you shuffle off the pavement just to let your betters pa**? Did you learn to keep your mouth shut? To be seen and never heard? Did you learn to be obedient, and jump to an a word, and jump to an a word, and jump to an a word? Did you ever demand any answers? The who, and the what, and the reason why? Did you ever question the setup? Did you stand aside and let them choose while you took second best? Did you let them skim cream off and then give to you the rest? Did you settle for the shoddy? Did you think it right, to let them rob right and left, and never make a fight, never make a fight, never make a fight? What did you learn in the morning? How much did you know in the afternoon? Were you content in the evening? Did they teach you how to question when you were at the school? Did the factory help you grow, were you the maker or the tool? Did the place where you were living enrich your life and then did you reach some understanding of all your fellow man, all your fellow man, all your fellow man