Big White Boots

Big White Boots

Vincent Burke

Here is a self-made story
From a self-made man
I took the soil of England
Shaped it with my hands
All my factories
All my museums
All the statues
And the books
And the plays
You can run at me and swing with a mallet
But I'm never getting out of your way

Here is a ship that's sailing far across the world
Here is a fairy story for my boys and girls
Big white boots that gave them a culture
Big white boots to show them how it was done
It was big white boots that gave them religion
While they sang and built our homes in the sun

Sometimes
At the end of the day
With what the radio plays
I can feel it all slip away

Sometimes
When my cupboard is bare
I may slump on my stairs
And complain that it's
Just not
Fair
I built this country myself
I built this country myself

Ride in a helicopter
O'er this pleasant land
Talk to a man from Wiltshire
Then you'll understand
All this stuff I say is important
Everything you say is less than a sneeze
You can run my statue into the water
But you're never getting off of your knees

Sometimes
When I'm sat on train
And the voices sound strange
I feel angry
I feel afraid

Sometimes
When all the world has gone wrong
I may pick up a stone
And remind them where I come from
I built this country myself
I built this country myself
I built this country myself