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  5. Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards (Live)

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Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards (Live)

Billy Bragg

Live at the Union Chapel London
Released September 20, 1988
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Billy Bragg

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It may have been Camelot for Jack and Jacqueline But on the Che Guevara highway filling up with gasoline Fidel Castro's brother spies a rich lady who's crying Over luxury's disappointment So he walks over and he's trying To sympathize with her but he thinks that he should warn her That the Third World is just around the corner In the Soviet Union a scientist is blinded By the resumption of nuclear testing and he is reminded That Dr. Robert Oppenheimer's optimism fell At the first hurdle In the Cheese Pavilion and the only noise I hear Is the sound of someone stacking chairs And mopping up spilled beer And someone asking questions and basking in the light Of the fifteen fame-filled minutes of the fanzine writer Mixing pop and politics he asks me what the use is I offer him embarrassment and my usual excuses While looking down the corridor Out to where the van is waiting I'm looking for the great leap forward Jumble sales are organized And pamphlets have been posted Even after closing time there's still parties to be hosted You can be active with the activists Or sleep in with the sleepers While you're waiting for the great leap forwards Ah, one leap forward, two leaps back Will politics get me the sack? Waiting for the great leap forwards Well, here comes the future and you can't run from it If you've got a blacklist, I want to be on it Waiting for the great leap forwards Oh, it's a mighty long way down rock 'n roll From "Top of the Pops" to drawing the dole You're waiting for the great leap forwards If no one out there understands Then start your own revolution and cut out the middleman Waiting for the great leap forwards In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune But this is reality so give me some room Waiting for the great leap forwards So join the struggle while you may The revolution is just a t-shirt away Waiting for the great leap forwards Waiting for the great leap forwards Waiting for the great leap forwards Waiting for the great leap forwards (Beam me up, Scotty) waiting for the great leap forwards Waiting for the great leap forwards Waiting for the great leap forwards Waiting for the great leap forwards Waiting for the great leap forwards Waiting for the great leap forwards

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