OK, here's the next installment - brisk tune, a bit like a march. The news item referred to in verse one was about the UK shipyards winning a contract to build 2 aircraft carriers; I saw a shop steward being ever so enthusiastic about the jobs that meant, conveniently ignoring that he would be building instruments of war. Chorus at the bottom, sung after each verse.

IT TAKES A SOLDIER

I heard it yesterday on the news
And to believe it I refused
To hear the working man enthused
That more guns would be built.
And I remember thinking then
That wallet wins the heart again
And we will sing the old refrain
As further blood is spilt:

The circle is a vicious one,
It's been like this since time began,
For after all is said and done
The soldier needs his bread.
But no one can explain to me
With all this land and all this sea
Why we don't turn our soldiery
To farm and fish instead.

And I can almost hear you say
"the world has always been that way,
"for peace and freedom you must pay
"and nothing is for free".
But vicious circles you can break,
'Tis but an easy step to take:
Just throw the guns into the lake
But keep just one for me;-)

If only we could understand
Before things spiral out of hand
It's not supply, but our demand
That does the monster feed.
And still our leaders never cease
To manufacture enemies
It isn't them that threaten peace,
The problem is our greed.

(chorus)
    It takes a soldier to fire the gun
    To make it you need a working man
    To feed him the farmer will plough the land
    It all goes hand in hand.
    But to feed the soldier and the man
    Who makes the gun, you need more land,
    And to get more land of course
    You need a soldier.