Can't Win - Richard Thompson

I started to cry, they put gin in my cup

I started to crawl and they swaddled me up

I got up and run, they said, easy son

Play up, play the game

They told me to think and forget what I’d heard

They told me to lie and then questioned my word

They taught me to fail, better sink than sail

Just play the game

Oh towers will tumble and locusts will visit the land

Oh a curse on your house and your children and the fruit of your hand

They said you can’t win, you can’t win

You sweat blood, you give in

You can’t win, you can’t win

Turn the cheek, take it on the chin

Don’t you dare do this don’t you dare do that

We harpoon dreams, we stiletto in the back

The nerve of some people, the nerve of some people

The nerve of some people

I don’t know who you think you are, who you think you are

Oh what kind of mother would hamstring her sons

Throw sand in their eyes and put ice on their tongues

Better to leave than stay here and grieve

And play the game

Don’t waken the dead as you sleepwalk around

If you have a dream, brother, hush, not a sound

Stand there and rust, and die if you must

But play the game

Oh if we can’t have it, why should a wretch like you?

Oh it was drilled in our heads, now we drill it into your head too

You can’t win, you can’t win

You sweat blood, you give in

You can’t win, you can’t win

Turn the cheek, take it on the chin

Don’t you dare do this don’t you dare do that

We harpoon dreams, we stiletto in the back

The nerve of some people, the nerve of some people

The nerve of some people, the nerve of some people