Lyrics

When I was a little girl I wished I was a boy I tagged along behind the gang and wore my corduroys Everybody said I only did it to annoy But I was gonna be an engineer Mamma told me, "Can't you be a lady? Your duty is to make me the mother of a pearl Wait until you're older, dear, and maybe You'll be glad that you're a girl" Dainty as a Dresden statue, gentle as a Jersey cow Smooth as silk, gives creamy milk Learn to coo, learn to moo That's what you do to be a lady, now When I went to school, I learned to write and how to read Some history, geography, and home economy And typing is a skill that every girl is sure to need To while away the extra time until the time to breed Then they have the nerve to say, "What would you like to be?" I says, "I'm gonna be an engineer!" "No, you only need to learn to be a lady The duty isn't yours for to try and run the world An engineer could never have a baby Remember, dear, that you're a girl" She's smart...for a woman I wonder how she got that way? You get no choice, you get no voice Just stay mum, pretend you're dumb That's how you come to be a lady, today Then Jimmy come along and we set up a conjugation We were busy every night with love and recreation I spent the day at work so he could get his education Well, now he's an engineer! He says, "I know you'll always be a lady It's the duty of my darling to love me all her life Could an engineer look after or obey me? Remember, dear, that you're my wife!" Well, as soon as Jimmy got a job, I began again Then happy at me turret lathe a year or so, and then The morning that the twins were born, Jimmy says to them "Kids, your mother was an engineer!" "You owe it to the kids to be a lady Dainty as a dishrag, faithful as a chow Stay at home, you got to mind the baby Remember you're a mother now!" Well, every time I turn around, there's something else to do It's cook a meal, mend a sock, sweep a floor or two Listening to Jimmy Young, it makes me want to spew "I was gonna be an engineer!" Don't I really wish that I could be a lady I could do the lovely things that a lady's supposed to do I wouldn't even mind if only they would pay me Then I could be a person too What price for a woman? You could buy her for a ring of gold To love and obey without any pay You get a cook and a nurse for better or worse You don't need a purse when the lady is sold Oh, but now that times are harder and me Jimmy's got the sack I went down to Vickers, they were glad to have me back But I'm a third-class citizen, my wages tell me that And I'm a first-class engineer! The boss, he says, "We pay you as a lady You only got the job 'cause I can't afford a man With you, I keep the profits high as may be You're just a cheaper pair of hands." You got one fault...you're a woman You're not worth the equal pay A bitch or a tart, you're nothing but heart Shallow and vain, you got no brain You even go down the drain like a lady today Well, I listened to my mother and I joined a typing pool I listened to my lover and I put him through his school But if I listen to the boss, I'm just a bloody fool And an underpaid engineer I've been a sucker ever since I was a baby As a daughter, as a wife, as a mother, and a dear But I'll fight them as a woman, not a lady Fight them as an engineer!