Life today is hectic.
Our world is running away.
Only the wise can recognize
The process of decay.
Unhappily, all our dialectic
Is quite unable to say whether we're on the beam or not,
Whether we'll rise supreme or not,
Whether this new regime or not
Is leading us astray.
We all have Frigidaires, radios,
Television and movie shows
To shield us from the ultimate abyss.
We have our daily bread neatly cut,
Every modern convenience but
The question that confronts us all is this:
What's going to happen to the children
When there aren't any more grown-ups?
Having been injected with some rather peculiar glands
Darling Mum's gone platinum
And dances to all the rumba bands.
The songs that she sings at twilight
Would certainly be the highlight
For some of those claques that Elsa Maxwell
Takes around in yachts.
Rockabye, rockabye, rockabye my darlings,
Mother requires a few more shots.
Does it amuse the tiny mites
To see their parents high as kites?
What's, what's, what's going to happen to the tots?
Life today's neurotic, a ceaseless battle we wage;
Millions are spent to circumvent
The march of middle age.
The fact that we grab each new narcotic
Can only prove in the end
Whether our hormones gel or not
Whether our cells rebel or not,
Whether we're blown to hell or not,
We'll all be round the bend
From taking Benzedrine, Dexamyl,
Every possible sleeping pill
To knock us out or knock us into shape.
We all have shots for this, shots for that,
Shots for making us thin or fat,
But there's one problem that we can't escape.
What's going to happen to the children
When there aren't any more grown-ups?
Thanks to plastic surgery and uncle's abrupt demise,
Dear Aunt Rose has changed her nose
But doesn't appear to realize
The pleasures that once were heaven
Look silly at sixty-seven,
And youthful allure you can't procure
In terms of perms and pots.
So lullaby, lullaby, lullaby my darlings,
Try not to scratch those large red spots,
Think of the shock when mummie's face
Is lifted from its proper place,
What's, what's, what's going to happen to the tots?
What's going to happen to the children
When there aren't any more grown-ups?
It's bizarre when grandmamma, without getting out of breath
Starts to jive at eighty-five and frightens the little ones to d**h.
The police had to send a squad car
When daddy got fried on vodka
And tied a tweed coat round mummie's throat
In several sailor's knots.
Hushabye, hushabye, hushabye my darlings,
Try not to fret and wet your cots.
One day you'll clench your tiny fists
And murder your psychiatrists.
What's, what's, what's going to happen to the tots?