One fine day near the end of the tax year Mr Richards was gripped by a new fear Who would be at his retirement party And though he still had years to go before he Slipped over the edge of the workforce The question remained and in his wake there came an army What price creature comforts – what is this life really all about? He drew a line between work and living, and work was winning out And he worked for half his life, to spend the end just feeling tired out That’s when his roof caved in And so he made a list of all the people he worked with And cut it down to the ones he got on with Paired each one off with the decade of his career And then he thought of all his friends from back home The crazies, the ladies, the lovers he’d known And then he looked around his office and wondered why he was still here What price creature comforts – what is this life really all about? He drew a line between work and living, and work was winning out And he worked for half his life, to spend the end just feeling tired out That’s when he realised that he scrimped and saved all his precious days So he could buy icers and microwaves And he only looks forward to his holidays That’s when his roof caved in And it would be nice to have holiday homes and healthy bank statements and fat little kids, And I guess you can be happy to dream all your dreams as camcorder records of the things that you did, But as soon as your sleeping does it really matter what mattress you happen to be sleeping on? As long as your living and your having fun; he always laughed at the drop-outs, that he could never live that way. But the truth is Mr Richards was a coward, he was afraid. Mr Richards decided on the very next morning To make his life and work the same thing Cleared his desk, he hit the road and he never retired.