Poem
Adrian Mitchell
BACK IN THE PLAYGROUND BLUES
BACK IN THE PLAYGROUND BLUES
BACK IN THE PLAYGROUND BLUES
I dreamed I was back in the playground, I was about four feet highYes I dreamed I was back in the playground, standing about four feet high
Well the playground was three miles long and the playground was five miles wide
It was broken black tarmac with a high wire fence all around
Broken black dusty tarmac with a high fence running all around
And it had a special name to it, they called it The Killing Ground
Got a mother and a father they\'re one thousand years away
The rulers of the Killing Ground are coming out to play
Everybody thinking: ‘Who they going to play with today?’
Well you get it for being Jewish
And you get it for being black
You get it for being chicken
And you get it for fighting back
You get it for being big and fat
Get it for being small
Oh those who get it get it and get it
For any damn thing at all
Sometimes they take a beetle, tear off its six legs one by one
Beetle on its black back, rocking in the lunchtime sun
But a beetle can’t beg for mercy, a beetle’s not half the fun
I heard a deep voice talking, it had that iceberg sound
‘It prepares them for Life’ - but I have never found
Any place in my life worse than The Killing Ground.
© 1982, the estate of Adrian Mitchell
From: For Beauty Douglas
Publisher: Allison & Busby, London
From: For Beauty Douglas
Publisher: Allison & Busby, London
Adrian Mitchell
(United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 1932 - 2008)
“Joyous, acrid and demotic tumbling lyricist Pied Piper determinedly singing us away from catastrophe.” (Angela Carter)
Dubbed the Shadow Poet Laureate in 2003 by Red Pepper magazine, Adrian Mitchell has been one of the most exciting popular voices in British poetry for almost half a century. He passed away just days before Christmas 2008, marking the end of an incredibly prolific, and political...
Dubbed the Shadow Poet Laureate in 2003 by Red Pepper magazine, Adrian Mitchell has been one of the most exciting popular voices in British poetry for almost half a century. He passed away just days before Christmas 2008, marking the end of an incredibly prolific, and political...
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Poems of Adrian Mitchell
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BACK IN THE PLAYGROUND BLUES
I dreamed I was back in the playground, I was about four feet highYes I dreamed I was back in the playground, standing about four feet high
Well the playground was three miles long and the playground was five miles wide
It was broken black tarmac with a high wire fence all around
Broken black dusty tarmac with a high fence running all around
And it had a special name to it, they called it The Killing Ground
Got a mother and a father they\'re one thousand years away
The rulers of the Killing Ground are coming out to play
Everybody thinking: ‘Who they going to play with today?’
Well you get it for being Jewish
And you get it for being black
You get it for being chicken
And you get it for fighting back
You get it for being big and fat
Get it for being small
Oh those who get it get it and get it
For any damn thing at all
Sometimes they take a beetle, tear off its six legs one by one
Beetle on its black back, rocking in the lunchtime sun
But a beetle can’t beg for mercy, a beetle’s not half the fun
I heard a deep voice talking, it had that iceberg sound
‘It prepares them for Life’ - but I have never found
Any place in my life worse than The Killing Ground.
From: For Beauty Douglas
BACK IN THE PLAYGROUND BLUES
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