Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards
Billy Bragg
Capo on the 4th fret It may have been Camelot for Jack and Jacqueline But on the Che Guevara highway filling up with gasoline Fidel Castro’s brother spies a rich lady who’s crying Over luxury’s disappointment so he walks over and he’s trying To sympathise with her but he thinks that he should warn her That the Third World is just around the corner In the Soviet Union a scientist is blinded By the resumption of nuclear testing and he is reminded That Dr. Robert Oppenheimer’s optimism fell At the first hurdle In the Cheese Pavilion and the only noise I hear Is the sound of people stacking chairs and mopping up spilt beer And someone asking questions and basking in the light Of the fifteen fame filled minutes of the fanzine writer Mixing Pop and Politics he asks me what the use is I offer him embarrassment and my usual excuses While looking down the corridor out to the where the van is waiting I’m looking for the Great Leap Forwards Jumble sales are organized and pamphlets have been posted Even after closing time there’s still parties to be hosted You can be active with the activists or sleep in with the sleepers While you’re waiting for the Great Leap Forwards One leap forward two leaps back Will politics get me the sack? Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards Here comes the future and you can’t run from it If you’ve got a blacklist I want to be on it Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards It’s a mighty long way down rock nd roll From Top of the Pops to drawing the dole Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards If no one happens to understand Start your own revolution cut out the middleman Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards So join the struggle while you may The revolution is only a T-shirt away Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards In a perfect world we’d all sing in tune But this reality so give me some room! Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards (Beam me up Scotty!) Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards
