What if we live to be fifty And the optimists win by a mile Supposing we stop the starvation and slaughter And the century ends with a smile Maybe recycling paper Will bring back the forests again And maybe the five year old psychos with knives Will grow up to be happy and sane So give up your cigarettes Work out and study And carry a packet of three We'll live to be rich and a hundred and seven Unless you know better than me What if we live to be fifty And help all the weak and oppressed We'll cancel their debts & no-one will expect us To work any harder for less We'll spend our way out of recession The West will invest in the East So hordes of the poor never swarm at our door Demanding a share of the feast So give up your cigarettes Work out and study And carry a packet of three We'll live to be rich and a hundred and seven Unless you know better than me Science will beat every fatal disease And plutonium's perfectly safe They'll find a solution to all the pollution It's only a matter of faith What if we live to be fifty And the bomb doesn't drop after all And we never lie destitute, freezing and sick As the mortar shells batter our walls We'll cheer as our glorious leaders Develop new weapons for peace They'll base a new military laser in space And the ozone will heal in a week So give up your cigarettes Work out and study And carry a packet of three We'll live to be rich and a hundred and seven Unless you know better than me