A few hours ago, I was sorting through a box of old papers, when I came across these lyrics to a song I’d composed nearly fifty years ago, at the tender age of seventeen! I have decided to share it with the readers of The Daily Blog as proof that no matter what historical era one is born into, there is always, in the eyes of the young, considerable room for improvement.

Look For The Light.

Beneath the towering concrete thrones

The people creep and crawl,

You watch them through the oozing black

That’s seeping through your wall.

The darkness slithers like a snake

Between the halls of stone,

Your voice in echoes stabs the night:

“My God, am I alone!”

That’s when you look for the light,

Hope for the light,

Have faith in the light to come.

The stench of corpses chokes the air

And hangs the senses high,

While in their red-brick coffins

The split-level heroes lie.

You’re groping through an endless day

Towards an endless night,

While armies of well-oiled machines

March onward out of sight.

That’s when you look for the light,

Hope for the light,

Have faith in the light to come.

The bold blue warriors ignite

The fires they love to hate,

And crying “Law and Order!”,

Take another for the State.

The members of the Parliament

Are eating paper pies,

As sweat soaks through their collars,

They all doze as Justice dies.

That’s when you look for the light,

Hope for the light,

Have faith in the light to come.

You’re running faster every day

To catch the same old train,

With icy faces staring out

From every window pane.

The streets are growing metal bars

To keep us in our place,

And every night the sirens wail,

Quickening the pace.

That’s when you look for the light,

Hope for the light,

Have faith in the light to come.

Chris Trotter 1973