Lyrics
I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor, that’s not my business
I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone
I should like to help everyone, if possible, Jew, Gentile, black man, white
We all want to help one another, human beings are like that
We want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery
We don’t want to hate and despise one another
In this world there is room for everyone
And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone
The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way
Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate
Has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed
We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in
Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want
Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness, hard and unkind
We think too much and feel too little
More than machinery we need humanity
More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness
Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost
The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together
The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men
Cries out for universal brotherhood, for the unity of us all
Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world
Millions of despairing men, women and little children
Victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people
To those who can hear me, I say, do not despair
The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed
The bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress.
The hate of men will pass and dictators die
And the power they took from the people, will return to the people
And so long as men die liberty will never perish
Soldiers, don’t give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you
Who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel
Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder
Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men
Machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts
You are not machines, you are not cattle, you are men
You have the love of humanity in your hearts
You don’t hate, only the unloved hate, the unloved and the unnatural
Soldiers, don’t fight for slavery, fight for liberty
In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written
«The kingdom of God is within man», not one man, nor a group of men
But in all men, in you, the people, you the people have the power
The power to create machines, the power to create happiness
You the people have the power to make life free and beautiful
To make this life a wonderful adventure
Let us use that power, let us all unite
Let us fight for a new world, a decent world
That will give men a chance to work
That will give you the future and old age and security
By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power
But they lie, they do not fulfil their promise, they never will
Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people
Now let us fight to fulfil that promise, let us fight to free the world
To do away with national barriers, do away with greed, with hate and intolerance
Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will
lead to all men’s happiness
Soldiers, let us all unite!
