You can't make mother cry

You can't make her twist her ragged hair

You can't make mother groan

Even when her soldier sonny

shakes his iron cocktail in the air...

You can't make mother cry

You can't make her give consent

Though she flounders at the drainboard

Though her back be down there and bent

If sleeping brings relief

She can go lie down and slumber

If sleeping brings relief

She can go lie down and slumber

If sleeping brings relief

She can go... lie down and slumber...

Slumber

She puts her hands down into the sink

Scrapes the grunge up off the bottom

Down there beneath the dishes

Where the knives lie crossed and waiting

She can't stop the kiddies talking

Their tongues be loosed upon the world

They flap until they lather

For the agony of millions

And if sleeping brings relief

They can go lie down and slumber

And if sleeping brings relief

They can go lie down and slumber

And if sleeping brings relief

They can... go lie down and slumber

Slumber...

And there be no release from anguish

For this slapstick generation

And there be no peace for all the kiddies

'Cause they're too satisfied to care

And the field of gorgeous bodies

Primed and ready in the sun

And the white flag of peace

That is hanging

Limp and useless in the air...

And the white flag of peace

That is hanging

Limp and useless in the air, yeah!

And if sleeping brings relief

You can all go lie down and slumber

And if sleeping brings relief

You can go lie down and slumber...

Slumber...