The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #62902   Message #2222983
Posted By: Susanne (skw)
26-Dec-07 - 09:18 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Little Drummer Boy (you're all the world)
Subject: Lyr Add: LITTLE DRUMMER BOY (Mickey MacConnell)
Jim, the song Boab was after is definitely not Mickey MacConnell's. I thought I'd posted the lyrics on the forum before ...

THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY
(Mickey MacConnell)

I'm the minister for justice in a sad divided land
Surrounded by rebellion, discontent on every hand
You can see it in men's faces as they draw their weekly dole
With their eyes as bleak as bullets and black murder in their soul
So we'll have to blind the ferryman, break the piper's hands
Lock up all those poets that the people understand
There's a dangerous wind a-blowing through this sad divided land
And it's time to kill the little drummer boy

You see, the poets and the singers are like drummer boys of yore
Who helped to raise the banners and lead foolish men to war
Little boys in scarlet uniforms to keep the troops in step
Up to the muzzles of the cannons on their one-way march to death
So we'll have to blind the ferryman, break the piper's hands
And lock up all those singers that the people understand
There's a dangerous wind a-blowing through this sad divided land
And it's time to kill the little drummer boy

It doesn't matter who's in power at any given time
If we want freedom and democracy we'll have to toe the line
The poor are always with us, on that we're all agreed
And the sooner they realise it then the happier they'll be
So we'll have to blind the ferryman, break the piper's hands
And lock up all those painters that the people understand
There's a dangerous wind a-blowing through this sad divided land
And it's time to kill the little drummer boy

There were drummer boys in Chile, in El Salvador and France
South Africa, the Philippines you can hear them sound 'advance'
In Yugoslavia, in Ireland, behind the Berlin Wall
You know those little drummer boys they would crucify us all
So we'll have to blind the ferryman, break the piper's hands
And lock up all those writers that the people understand
There's a dangerous wind a-blowing through this sad divided land
And it's time to kill the little drummer boy

Yes I'm the minister for justice in this sad divided land
Surrounded by rebellion, discontent on every hand
So I'll have to bring in stricter laws, make sure they know it's wrong
To force rebellion in poetry, in painting and in song
So we'll have to blind the ferryman, break the piper's hands
And lock up all those people that the people understand
There's a dangerous wind a-blowing through this sad divided land
And it's time to kill the little drummer boy

(as sung by Iain MacKintosh)

It can also be found on My Songbook with some notes.