Music & lyrics by The Jam

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I was hoping we'd make real progress,
But it seems we have lost the power.
Any tiny step of advancement
Is like a raindrop falling into the ocean.
We're running on the spot
Always have, always will.
We're just the next generation
Of the emotionally crippled.

Though we keep piling up the building blocks,
The structure never seems to get any higher
Because we keep kicking out the foundations
And stand useless while our lives fall down.
I believe in life and I believe in love
But the world in which I live in
Keeps trying to prove me wrong.

Out in the pastures we call society,
You can't see further than the bottom of your glass.
Only young but easily shocked
You get all violent when the boat gets rocked.

Just like sheep - little lambs into the slaughter
Don't fully grasp what exactly is wrong.
Truth is you never cared, still
You get all violent when the boat gets rocked.

Intelligence should be our first weapon
And stop revelling in rejection.
And follow yourselves, not some ageing drain brain
Whose quite content to go on feeding you garbage.
We're running on the spot
Always have, always will.
We're just the next generation
Of the emotionally crippled.

© Paul Weller, 1982

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