The Early Days Of A Better Nation - Oysterband

I fall asleep with the TV on 
Wake with an ache it's another week gone 
And consider how my light was spent 
And where it was that the real thing went 
I asked a wise man for advice 
I told him once and I told him twice; 
My life is one long damage limitation 
He smacked me hard around the head 
He handed me a card that read: 
Work like you were 
Living in the early days of a better nation 
Living in the early days of a better nation 
Play that tune again! I cried 
It's dead and gone the band replied 
But as they slowly tried it through 
The hands remembered what they had to do 
Give it poke and give it licks 
The name of the tune is Laying The Bricks 
I Stood outside the Albert Hall 
And wept, and wrote upon the wall; 
Work like you were 
Living in the early days of a better nation 
Living in the early days of a better nation 
We take the water to the tree 
She says, Now do the same for me 
It takes your sweat as well as art 
To dig a channel for the human heart 
There is no garden of delight 
Unless you weed it day or night 
Don't leave your life a lifelong long vacation 
I hear her whisper when we meet 
And when I crawl between the sheets, she says; 
Work like you were 
Living in the early days of a better nation 
Living in the early days of a better nation