When The Boys Are On Parade

Here they come marching past the houses, shiny boots and khaki blouses
 Stiff as the creases in their trousers standing tall and straight and strong
 And they all keep in step together glint of steel and flash of leather
 Braving every kind of weather as they boldly march along
 You may dismiss it as a ploy for the enlistment of the boys
 Who'll be impressed to see the toys and play the games that can be played
 And you may well prefer abstention but I feel compelled to mention
 You'd do well to pay attention when the Boys are on Parade.
 Look at your sons before they're older they'll be stronger they'll be bolder
 Just the thing to make a soldier and we'll turn them into men
 And they'll be taught to follow orders, keep the peace and guard the borders
 To protect us from marauders and defend us to the end.
 But the position they'll be filling is to be able and be willing
 To be killed or do the killing when there's a price that must be paid
 And you may well prefer abstention but I feel compelled to mention
 You'd do well to pay attention when the Boys are on Parade.
 In the pursuit of a community of decency and unity
 And equal opportunity we stand prepared to fight
 And if there's a threat to our position from aggressive opposition
 The with guns and ammunition we'll defend with all our might.
 We'll dehumanise and hate them send in the troops to decimate them
 As in the name of the Nation all it stands for is betrayed
 And you may well prefer abstention but I feel compelled to mention
 You'd do well to pay attention when the Boys are on Parade.
 Merely the whim or intuition of an elected politician
 Makes a melee without conditions as the monster quits the cage
 Its a machine that knows no quarter dealing death and sowing slaughter
 Raping mothers, wives and daughters in an all consuming rage
 We may well decide we need it and we'll pay to arm and feed it
 But can you tell me who will lead it when the decisions must be made
 And you may well prefer abstention but I feel compelled to mention
 You'd do well to pay attention when the Boys are on Parade.
 Some will wonder what's to fear and say there is no danger here
 But there has never been a year when Soldiers haven't been at war
 And the eternal executions and the bloody revolutions
 And the ultimate solutions too have all been seen before.
 And there's always someone scheming and sometimes at night when dreaming
 In the distance I hear screaming and in my heart I feel afraid
 And you may well prefer abstention but I feel compelled to mention
 You'd do well to pay attention when the Boys are on Parade.