[Verse 1]
Fall asleep with the TV on
Wake with an ache, it's another week gone
Consider how my life is spent
Where it was that the real thing went
I asked a wise man for advice
Told me once and he told me twice
"Your life is one long damage limitation"
He smacked me hard around the head
Handed me a card that read

[Chorus]
"Work like you were living in the early days of a better nation"
Work like you were living in thе early days of a better nation

[Verse 2]
"Play that tunе again," I cried
"It's dead and gone," the band replied
But as they slowly tried it through
The hands remembered what they had to do
They gave it poke, they gave it licks
The name of the tune is "Laying the Bricks"
Let music be the people's sure foundation
I stood outside the Albert Hall
Wept and wrote upon the wall
[Chorus]
"Work like you were living in the early days of a better nation"
Work like you were living in the early days of a better nation

[Verse 3]
We take the water to the tree
She said, "Now do the same for me
It takes your sweat as well as art
To dig a channel for the human heart
There is no garden of delight
Unless you weed it day and night
Don't leave your life a lifelong long vacation"
I hear her whisper when we meet
As we crawl beneath the sheet

[Chorus]
She said, "Work like you were living in the early days of a better nation"
Work like you were living in the early days of a better nation
Living in the early days of a better nation

[Outro]
Living in the early days
Living in the early days
Living in the early days of a better nation
When you're living in the early days of a better nation
When you're living in the early days of a better nation
When you're living in the early days of a better nation
When you're living in the early days of a better nation