Brown Rise & Kerosene

Julie did three years' trade school
I served my apprenticeship time
We made a modest living, but we were upstaged
Because computers don't strike or need holidays
Our parents ate bread and dripping
Stole wood from the park to keep warm
We're eating by the heater in threadbare jeans
Brown rice and kerosene
Life wasn't meant to be impossible
Spare us the indignity
Two cheers for progress, reason denied
Whitewash and platitudes are all I can find
Our parents ate bread and dripping
Stole wood from the park to keep warm
The cupboard's bare, all we can share's
Brown rice and kerosene
Sometimes I think about cocktails
Update Molotov's recipe
Forget the gravel ballast and stink of benzene
Use rice and kerosene
A major change of scene
Like 1917
With people before machines