Lyrics I'm Gonna Be an Engineer - Pete Seeger

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
Momma said why can′t you be a lady, you're duty is to make me the mother of a pearl
Wait until you′re older dear and maybee you'll be glad that you're a girl!
When I went to school I learned to write and how to read... 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
And then they had the nerve to ask what would I like to be
I said I′m gonna be an engineer!
Oh no, you only need to learn to be a lady
The duty isn′t yours for to try to run the world
An engineer could never have a baby, remember dear that you're a girl!
Well I started as a typist but I studied on the sly
Workin′ out the days and nights so I could qualify
Every time the boss comes in he pinched me on the thigh and said "I never had an engineer!"
You owe it to the job to be a lady, the duty of the staff is to give the boss a whirl
The wages that you make are crummy maybee, but it's all you get cause you′re a girl!
Then Jimmy come along and we set up a conjugation
We were busy every night with loving recreation
I spent my days at work so he could get an education, and now he's an engineer!
He said I know you′ll always be a lady, the duty of my darling is 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 studied hard again
Then busy at turret-lathe for a year or two, and then
The morning that the twins were born, Jimmy says to them
"Kids you're mother was an engineer!"
You owe it to the kids to be a lady
Dainty as a dish-rag, faithful as a chow
Stay at home, you got to mind the baby
Remember you′re a mother now!
Every time I turn around there′s something else to do
Cook a meal, mend a sock, or sweep a floor or two
Listening to Jimmy Young - it makes me want to spew
I was gonna be an engineer!
I only wish that I could be a lady
I'd do the lovely things that a lady′s s'posed to do
I wouldn′t even mind if only they would pay me
Then I could be a person too!
Well I listened to my mother and I joined a typing pool
Listened to my lover and put him through his school
If I listened 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 mother, as a lover,
As a dear.
But I'll fight 'em as a woman not a lady
I′ll fight ′em as an engineer!
-Solidarity forever-
I'll fight ′em as an engineer!