Well I was born in 1965
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That was a hell of a good time to be alive
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Except that by the age of ten
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The music had turned crap again
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Now people say they wanna bring back the 70's
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I say hey give the bad music of today a chance
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Punk came round, that was pretty scary
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It was like a contemporary Peter, Paul and Mary
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Shocking!
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And before the 80's got too far
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It was time for me to pick up my guitar
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Picked it up
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Looked good!
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All my friends turned up their noses
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At Freewheelin' and For The Roses
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Preferring image over substance
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A hairstyle for a musical influence
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All those Ultravox records, they're gathering dust
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But me, I'm still listening to Live Rust
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And if the 90's are the 60's turned upside down
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Then the 80's were the 60's the right way up
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Only with half the top cut off?
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If you think about it!
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And in the town where I did live
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There was no-one I could do hoot night with
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So I sat alone with my six strings
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And I learned how to play and sing
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Woody Guthrie's guitar killed fascists and crime
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But in Hastings, East Sussex, South of England
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My guitar killed time?
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And I got gigs opening for bands
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And things would get outta hand
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Cos big men would yell out their derision
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So I developed humor as a defense mechanism?
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The main band of the night would be?..
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And I'd go on first and I'd get carried away?
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Literally
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And I moved to the big old smoky city
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Just after University
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And I got a gig opening for a friend of mine
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Where I happened to be playing my ace in the right place at the
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Right time?
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So I gave up my PhD
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To become a dustbowl folky
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That's Phil Ochs not Phil Oakey
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And then I learned the Folksinger's Prayer and it goes like this:
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Our Father
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Who art on Folkways
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Ramblin' Jack be thy name
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Thy Folk City come
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Thy will be done
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On CD as it was on vinyl
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Give us this day our daily gig
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And forgive us our protest
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As we forgive those who protest against us
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And lead us not into electricity
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But deliver us from commercialism
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For Prine is the kingdom
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The power of the story
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Forever be clever
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A minor?
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So hey everybody the time is near
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The Folk revival's coming here
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But it's a tough thing to revive today
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Cos it never really goes away
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That's cos it's a good thing
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So everyone it's time to come and claim your share
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It's time to re-iron your hair
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It's time to relearn Scarborough Fayre
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And in 5 years time you're gonna look back
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You're gonna say 'I was there'
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At the return of the great folk scare
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Talkin' Return Of The Great Folk Scare Blues
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John Wesley Harding |