The Butcher's Sher

Well the world has never been so very small

Though they say there's not enough to feed us all

So you better save a nickel while you can

But it needn't come from someone else's hand

Just take a little extra every day

For honest work deserves an honest pay

You can tell the world you did it by yourself

There's someone you must thank for all his help

You gotta give the butcher his share

You'd like to make believe he isn't there

You'd like to make believe you just receive what's only fair

That no one has to suffer to keep you in your chair

But you gotta give the butcher his share

Let's take a walk around the old bazaar

Where every little thing has traveled far

Every pair of pants and grain of rice

Contains a horror story in its price

A story of the power people wield

A story about factories and fields

Of which you'll never have to be aware

Just as long as the butcher gets his share

You've gotta give the butcher his share

No matter what you buy or what you wear

'Cause no one ever said the distribution would be fair

Blood and guts encoded in the value of the ware

But you gotta give the butcher his share

Well here's another soldier on the train

You hope you won't be seeing him again

And you tell yourself, "My G-d, he looks so young"

You find that you are staring at his gun

And you wonder what this soldier does for fun

You wonder 'bout the things he might have done

Well he was doing them for people just like you

So you better give the butcher his due

You gotta give the butcher his due

'Cause you're lucky that it's him instead of you

Who does the dirty things you hope you'll never have to do

And has to keep his filthy little fingers out of view

But you gotta give the butcher his due

You can build yourself a garden

You can cover it in green

But my dear I beg your pardon

How do you keep your little fingers clean?

You don't have to rally 'round a flag

You may as well solute a dirty rag

And this isn't a defense of evil deeds

It's just a little song about our needs

Our need to feel enlightenment and secure

And civilized and rational and pure

To feel we are decent good and nice

Just as long as the butcher gets his price

You gotta give the butcher his price

No matter what you think of human rights

You've gotta give the butcher his lot

For being everything you think you're not

You gotta give the butcher his share

No matter how you say you really care

'Cause he's the one who did the stealing

And then named you as the heir

Whose filthiness provided you the privileges you bear

You gotta give the butcher his share