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i'm gonna be an engineer - pete seeger lyrics

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when i was a little girl i wished i was a boy
i tagged along behind the gang and wore my corduroys
everybody said i only did it to annoy
but i was gonna be an engineer

mamma said, “why can’t you be a lady?
your duty is to make me the mother of a pearl
wait until you’re older, dear
and maybe you’ll be glad that you’re a girl

dainty as a dresden statue, gentle as a jersey cow
smooth as silk, gives cream and milk
learn to coo, learn to moo
that’s what you do to be a lady, now

when i went to school i learned to write and how to read
history, geography and home economy
and typing is a sk!ll 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 ask, what would i 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 to run the world
an engineer could never have a baby
remember, dear, that 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

well, i started as a typist but i studied on the sly
working out the day and night so i could qualify
and every time the boss came in, he pinched me on the thigh
said, “i’ve never had an engineer!”
“you owe it to the job to be a lady
the duty of the staff is 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”

then jimmy came along and we set up a conjugation
we were busy every night with loving recreation
i spent my days at work so he could get an education
and now he’s an engineer!

he said: “i know you’ll always be a lady
the duty of my darling is to love me all her life
could an engineer look after or obey me?
remember, dear, that you’re my wife!”

as soon a jimmy got a job, i studied hard again
then busy at me turret-lathe a year or two, and then
the morning that the twins were born, jimmy says to them
“your mother was an engineer!”
“you owe it to the kids to be a lady
dainty as a dish-rag, 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
listening to jimmy young – it makes me want to spew
i was gonna be an engineer

i only wish that i could be a lady
i’d do the lovely things that a lady’s s’posed to do
i wouldn’t even mind if only they would pay me
then 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

oh, but now the times are harder and me jimmy’s got the sack;
i went down to vicker’s, they were glad to have me back
but i’m a third-cl-ss citizen, my wages tell me that
but i’m a first-cl-ss engineer!

the boss he says “we pay you as a lady
you only got the job because i can’t afford a man
with you i keep the profits high as may be
you’re just a cheaper pair of hands.”

you got one fault, you’re a woman;
you’re not worth the equal pay
a b-tch or a tart, you’re nothing but heart
shallow and vain, you’ve got no brain

well, i listened to my mother and i joined a typing pool
listened to my lover and i put him through his school
if i listen to the boss, i’m just a bl–dy fool
and an underpaid engineer
i been a sucker ever since i was a baby
as a daughter, as a mother, as a lover, as a dear
but i’ll fight them as a woman, not a lady
i’ll fight them as an engineer!

- pete seeger lyrics

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