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ewan maccoll & peggy seeger - legal/illegal lyrics

every time you pick up the newspaper
every time you switch on the tv
every time you pick up the newspaper
every time you switch on the tv
you can bet your old boots that at some point you’ll see
a high+ranking copper or tory mp
calling on all who are british and free
to stand up and defend law and order

it’s illegal to rip off a payroll
it’s illegal to hold up a train;
but it’s legal to rip off a million or two
that comes from the labour that other folk do
to plunder the many on behalf of the few
is a thing that is perfectly legal

it’s illegal to k!ll off a landlord
or to trespass upon his estate
but to change a high rеnt for a slum is ok
to condemn two adults and three children to stay
in a hovel that’s rottеn with damp and decay
is a thing that is perfectly legal

if your job turns you into a zombie
it’s legal to feel some despair
but don’t be aggressive that is if you’re smart
and for christ’s sake, don’t upset the old apple cart
remember the boss has your interests at heart
and it grieves him to see you unhappy
if you fashion a bomb in the kitchen
you’re guilty of breaking the law
but a bl++dy great nuclear plant is ok
though plutonium processing hastens the day
when this tight little isle may be blasted away
nonetheless, it is perfectly legal

it’s illegal if you are a gypsy
to camp by the side of the road
but it’s proper and right for the rich and the great
to live in a mansion and own an estate
that was got from the people by pillage and rape
that’s what they call a tradition

it’s illegal to carve up your missus
or put poison in your old man’s tea
but poison the rivers, the seas and the skies
and poison the mind of a nation with lies
if it’s done in the interest of free enterprise
then it’s proper and perfectly legal

it’s legal to join a trade union
and to picket is one of your rights
but don’t be offensive when scabs cross the line
be nice to the coppers and keep this in mind:
to picket effectively, that is a crime
worse than if you had murdered your mother
it’s legal to sing on the telly
but they make bl++dy sure that you don’t
if you sing about racists and fascists and creeps
and thieves in high places who live off the weak
and those who are selling us right up the creek
the twisters, the takers, the con men, the fakers
the whole bl++dy gang of exploiters

- ewan maccoll peggy seeger lyrics

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