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The Ballad of Five Fingers

Ewan MacColl
Language: English


Ewan MacColl

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VV.AA., "Songs Against the Bomb", 1959"

Interpretata anche da Pete Seeger
Five fingers has the hand, five fingers, five fingers.
Five fingers has the hand, good for work and play.
Started with a lizard's claws, then became a mammal's paws,
Couldn't be satisfied because that isn't the human way.

Five fingers has the hand, five fingers, five fingers.
Four fingers and a thumb. say it either way.
Four and one add up to five, that number helped us stay alive;
Helped the human race survive up to the present day.

Five fingers and the brain, five fingers, five fingers.
Five fingers and the brain made a pact one day.
The brain it said "We'll make a team, the best the world has ever seen.
We'll pool resources, work and scheme and that without delay".

Five fingers and the brain, five fingers, five fingers.
Five fingers and the brain went to work that day;
Made a spear and made a bow, laid the mighty jungles low;
Learned to hunt and make things grow and mould things out of clay.

Five fingers and the brain, five fingers, five fingers.
Five fingers and the brain, busy at work and play.
Making music, carvmg bone, painting pictures, working alone;
Learning all that can be known and growing every day.

Five fingers and the brain, five fingers, five fingers
Five fingers and the brain, working night and day.
Built the world and then got smart, opened up the atom's heart.
The fingers said "It's time to part and go our separate way.'.

Five fingers and the brain, five fingers, five fingers.
Five fingers and the brain, quarrelling night and day.
They've got the know-how and the skill, to make and build, destroy and kill
The choice is theirs for good or ill to find the human way.

Contributed by Riccardo Venturi


This good song is recorded as,
Ballad of Five Fingers - Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger Songs Against the Bomb Topic 12001 1960
Holger Terp

Holger Terp - 2014/6/23 - 11:49




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