The Old School Tie - Peter Hammill

Oh the bright young man in the tight-buttoned suit

The light beams out from capped smiles to the shines

On their lick-spittle books

Oh these sharp young sparks with their fresh rosettes

Yeh, the artful ways that they promise the earth

To all suffragettes —

What they won’t promise we don’t know yet.

They say they’re build — and shaping society

But we know they’re just saving for their own

Safe home in politics

Anything goes: look at them run.

Come from every side, noses Pinocchio clean;

Lock in synchromesh, oil the wheels and the gears

Of the party machine.

And the final goal is a cabinet seat…

In the trappings of power, the presumption to speak

For the man in the street.

Once they move in, they’re in for good;

Yeh, once they get that bed made it’s a Safe home in politics.

Jobs for the boys: look at them run.

There’s just one thing none of us should forget:

A political man is just in it for the power

And the smell of sucess.

Sure, some start out as idealists —

Pretty soon they all cop for ideal careers and

A safe home in politics,

A cusky job in politics;

Look at them run.

The politicians fight it out on the couning tower

But they all agree not to rock the boat.

A safe home in politics

It’s built on your vote