Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards lyrics

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 spilt 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 forwards

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

One leap forward, two leaps back

Will politics get me the sack?

Waiting for the great leap forwards

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

It's a mighty long way down rock 'n roll

From Top of the Pops to drawing the dole

Waiting for the great leap forwards

If no one seems to understand

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 tee shirt away

Waiting for the great leap forwards

• Artist:Billy Bragg
• Album:Workers Playtime (1988)