You see, the poets and the singers are like drummer boys of yore
Who helped to raise the banners and lead foolish men to war
Little boys in scarlet uniforms to keep the troops in step
Up to the muzzles of the cannons on their one-way march to death
So we'll have to blind the ferryman, break the piper's hands
And lock up all those singers that the people understand
There's a dangerous wind a-blowing through this sad divided land
And it's time to kill the little drummer boy.

It doesn't matter who's in power at any given time
If we want freedom and democracy we'll have to toe the line
The poor are always with us, on that we're all agreed
And the sooner they realise it, then the happier they'll be.
So we'll have to blind the ferryman, break the piper's hands
And lock up all those painters that the people understand
There's a dangerous wind a-blowing through this sad divided land
And it's time to kill the little drummer boy.

There were drummer boys in Chile, in El Salvador and France
South Africa, the Philippines, you can hear them sound 'advance'
In Yugoslavia, in Ireland, behind the Berlin Wall
You know those little drummer boys, they would crucify us all
So we'll have to blind the ferryman, break the piper's hands
And lock up all those writers that the people understand
There's a dangerous wind a-blowing through this sad divided land
And it's time to kill the little drummer boy.

Yes I'm the minister for justice in this sad divided land
Surrounded by rebellion, discontent on every hand
So I'll have to bring in stricter laws, make sure they know it's wrong
To force rebellion in poetry, in painting and in song
So we'll have to blind the ferryman, break the piper's hands
And lock up all those people that the people understand
There's a dangerous wind a-blowing through this sad divided land
And it's time to kill the little drummer boy.