McKeown and I

[Verse 1]
We built sandcastles, McKeown and I
A summer holiday, a cloudless sky
They had turrets, towers and battlements
A world away from our tenements
The filth and rats and pawnshops rents
And no green place to play
They had flags that fluttered high and bright
A moat and drawbridge for white knights
We gazed at them with a child's delight
Till the tide washed them away

[Chorus]
We're men of straw, we're men of sand
Our castles crumbled never meant to stand
We're two born losers, sure to fail 'ere we'd begun
We're snowmen built for melting in the sun

[Verse 2]
We built a scarecrow, McKeown and I
One wild September day, a troubled sky
In the yard of the reformatory
We built him as tall as he could be
Stuffed with straw from chest to knee
A hat without a crown
Tall as the dads we'd never know
A priest's old coat about him thrown
A borstal king but ours alone
Till the east wild blew him down

[Chorus]
We're men of straw, we're men of sand
Our castles crumbled never meant to stand
We're two born losers, sure to fail 'ere we'd begun
We're snowmen built for melting in the sun

[Verse 3]
We built a snowman, McKeown and I
One dark December day, a bitter sky
In the prison yard where the convicts go
Outside our cells upon B row
We built him of the purest snow
Like two small boys at play
White as the judge that last year said
Rot in the cell until you're dead
Black coals for eyes, we watched with dread
Till the sun burned him away

[Chorus]
We're men of straw, we're men of sand
Our castles crumbled never meant to stand
We're two born losers, sure to fail 'ere we'd begun
We're snowmen built for melting in the sun
We're snowmen built for melting in the sun