Lyrics The Verb - Robert Wyatt

How can we get through to people,
In a sentence, loud and clear?
Words that spur them onto action
What's the good book got to say?
Ah, here's a list of ten commandments
Plain or orders, win the day
Something we can carry with us
To blow those clouds of doubt away.
First we've got to clean them up a bit,
We live in faster times.
Brush down all those dusty phrases
'Thou shalt not kill' comes to mind
Words like 'thou' just sound old fashioned
Do we need them? I think not.
Then the same goes for the next word -
I mean, who the hell would still say 'shalt'?
So now shut off these anachronisms
Time's still pressing, running out
We're only half way there and yet we stumble,
Tripping over that word – 'not'.
'Not' ain't helpful, not right now.
We do not want these negatives.
Words like 'not' could shake your faith
When he who hesitates is lost.
Now we have it stripped right down
We really only need a verb
A doing word, we tell our children,
Kill's the one that hits the nerve.
So thank you god, for showing us
The way to clarify your thought
And now we have it in a nutshell,
Kill to win your full support
We don't even need that grammar
Hardwired in our Chomsky heads
But grammar's just for anarchists, and
All you need's a verb.