Malvina Reynolds: Song Lyrics and Poems  



Picket Line

Notes: words by Malvina Reynolds (first two verses) and Bill Frederick (last two verses), music by Bill Frederick; copyright 1963 by the authors.


The gray flannel suits stand outside the door,
The picket line passes saying, "Fallout no more!"
The flannel suits smile at the signs passing by,
While unseen caesium falls from the sky.

A mother and a grandpa walk in the line,
Two little toddlers carry a sign,
Big time lunch-timers too polite to hoot,
And fallout doesn't show on a gray flannel suit.

The gray flannel suit says he just doesn't care
If we kill unborn children and poison the air,
He says he'll live forever, but he's rotten at the root,
And you can't get to heaven in a gray flannel suit.

If you want to build a better world, you gotta make a fuss--
Get out of that swivel-chair and march along with us.
If you want to live secure and free then sing out good and loud
Or your gray flannel suit will be a gray flannel shroud.


Malvina Reynolds songbook(s) in which the music to this song appears:
---- [none]

Other place(s) where the music to this song appears:
---- Broadside No. 38 (20 January 1964)

Malvina Reynolds recording(s) on which this song is performed:
---- [none]


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