Pete Townshend Commonwealth Boys lyrics

Don't ever call me a man
I'll decide for myself to tell you what I am
Don't want to be called a boy know more
'Cause boys fill the trenches in imperialist war

Don't ever call me a queen
Victorian values just ain't the scene
Don't want to be held responsible for you
To blame you for the future and the history too

We are the Commonwealth boys
South African village and Jamaican toys
Born to create but trained to destroy
And I am a Commonwealth boy

Don't ask if I'm a respectable force
I'm a ineffectual, intellectual of course
You would not up stand a really pretentious fool
I became aware in the care of a waitresses' school

Don't even call me a friend of the post
The fox holes have fallen and the cemeteries closed
And I've been slaving down on charity farm
Livin' like a socialist with blood on my arm


We are the Commonwealth youths
From Thunder and Turnside were looking for jobs
Born to create but doomed to destroy
I am a Commonwealth boy

Yeah, don't ever call me a man
I'll decide for myself what I am
Don't want to be a boy know more
'Cause boys fill the trenches in imperialist war

Don't ever call me a queen
Victorian values just ain't my scene
Don't want to be responsible for you
We blame you for the future and the history too

Don't ever call me a man
I'll decide when my life ends
I'm a boy, I'm a boy, don't you tell the fairies
I'm a boy, I'm a boy but my mother would not admit it