A STUFFED SHIRT

Now that’s not quite the way we educate
Our
Youngsters
We have another idea for them
The traditional notion
Of
A mature adult
Is
A person
Who
Behaves
As he ought to behave
Who behaves as the society has always
Asked him to behave
Grandpa behaved this way
So did great grandpa
And every kid who didn’t was eaten
So we all behaved this way
That is to say
The
Adult
Is the one who accepts
And represents
The order
Of the society
Without question
This you get
In all traditional
Societies
Now you know what we call a person
Who behaves that way

[Chorus]
A stuffed shirt
A stuffed shirt
A person
Who
Behaves
As he ought to behave

He has never built
Anything
Particular out of himself
He has simply
Done
As told
He’s sure
Of what’s right
Of what’s wrong
And
That’s that
Now we can’t have this anymore
We don’t want it
Our notion
In our society
Today
Of an adult
Mind
Is a mind
That accepts
Responsibility
For its own actions
That judges
In terms of
Value
Not saying
“Oh, I want this because I like it”
But in terms of
An ordered
Considered
Value scale

The individual is to judge
The individual is to criticize
And the individual is to represent
With courage
And loyalty
His judgments

[Chorus]
A stuffed shirt
A stuffed shirt
A person
Who
Behaves
As he ought to behave

Now this asks a lot of the society itself
That wasn’t asked before
This also tends to shatter
The idea
Of authority
Now that idea was formally
Validated by say
It came from God
The Lord of the Universe
Ordered things this way
For the society
For the society
The society
The society