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- #----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE---------------------------------#
- #This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the #
- #song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research. #
- #------------------------------------------------------------------------------##
- From: st91mep@cen.ex.ac.uk
-
- I'm gonna be an Engineer Peggy Seeger.
-
- G G6 G G6
- When I was a little girl, I wished I was a boy.
- G G6 G G6
- I tagged along behind the gang and wore me corduroys.
- G
- Ev'rybody said I only did it to annoy,
- A7 D7
- but I was gonna be an engineer.
- G A B
- Mama told me, "Can't you be a la - dy?
- C G Am D7
- Your duty is to make me the mother of a pearl.
- G B7 C7
- Wait until you're older, dear, and may - be
- G D7 G
- you'll be glad that you're a girl."
-
-
- Em Bm Em
- Dainty as a Dresden statue,
- Bm
- gentle as a Jersey cow-
- Cm G
- Smooth as silk, gives creamy milk.
- C G
- Learn to coo. Learn to moo.
- Bm Am D7
- That's what to do to be a lady now.
-
-
- When I went to school, I learned to write and how to read,
- Some History, geography, and home economy.
- (Next two lines repeat melody and chords of first two lines)
- And typing is a skill that every girl is sure to need
- To while away the extra time until the time to breed.
- And then they had the nerve to say,
- "What would you like to be?"
- I says, "I'm gonna be an engineer!"
-
- No, you only need to learn to be a lady.
- The duty isn't yours for to try and run the world.
- An engineer could never have a baby!
- Remember, dear, that you're a girl.
-
- So I become a typist and I study on the sly.
- Working out the day and night so I can qualify,
- And every time the boss come in, he pinched me on the thigh,
- Says, "I've never had an engineer!"
-
- You owe it to the job to be a lady.
- It's the duty of the staff for to give the boss a whirl.
- The wages that you get are crummy, maybe,
- But it's all you get, 'cause you're a girl.
-
- She's smart! (for a woman). I wonder how she got that way?
- You get no choice, you get no voice,
- Just stay mum, pretend you're dumb,
- That's how you come to be a lady today!
-
- Then Jimmy came along and we set up a conjugation;
- We were busy every night with loving recreation.
- I spent my day at work so he could get his education,
- And now he's an engineer!
-
- He says "I know you'll always be a lady.
- It's the duty of my darling to love me all my life.
- Could an engineer look after or obey me?
- Remember, dear, that you're my wife!"
-
- As soon as Jimmy got a job, I studied hard again.
- Then, busy at my turret-lathe a year or so, and then,
- The morning that the twins were born, Jimmy says to them,
- "Kids, your mother was an engineer."
-
- You owe it to the kids to be a lady,
- Dainty as a dishrag, faithful as a chow.
- Stay at home; you got to mind the baby.
- Remember, you're a mother now.
-
- Every time I turn around there's something else to do-
- Cook a meal or mend a sock or sweep a floor or two.
- Listen in to Jimmy Young - it makes me want to spew!
- I was gonna be an engineer!
-
- I really wish that I could be a lady;
- I could do the lovely things that a lady's s'posed to do.
- I wouldn't even mind, if only they would pay me
- And I could be a person too!
-
- What price - for a woman? You can buy her for a ring of gold;
- To love and obey (without any pay);
- You get a cook and a nurse (for better or worse).
- You don't need a purse when a lady is sold.
-
- But now that times are harder and my Jimmy's got the sack,
- I went down to Vickers. They were glad to have me back;
- I'm a third-class citizen, my wages tell me that,
- But I'm a first class engineer!
-
- The boss, he says, "I pay you as a lady;
- You only got the job 'cause I can't afford a man.
- With you I keep the profits as high as may be;
- You're just a cheaper pair of hands!"
-
- You got one fault! You're a woman. You're not worth equal pay.
- A bitch or a tart, you're nothing but heart;
- Shallow and vain, you got no brain;
- Go down the drain like a lady today!
-
- I listened to my mother and I joined a typing pool;
- I listened to my lover and I put him through his school;
- If I listen to the boss, I'm just a bloody fool-
- And an underpaid engineer!
-
- I been a sucker ever since I was a baby,
- As a daughter, as a lover, as a mother and a "dear,"
- But I'll fight them as a woman, not a lady,
- I'll fight them as an engineer.
-