Richard M. Sherman Follow

If my father were a chancellor,
How easy it would be:
The lovely Lady Caroline
Would be a proper wife, you see.
But my father was a servant,
And my mother same as he,
So the lady of my choosing
Is a world away from me.
That's how it is and how it was
And how it always shall be.

Position and positioning
Are socially conditioning.
How you're born, how you're bred
Predetermine who you wed,
Which means there's nothing changeable,
Nothing's rearrangable;
Position and positioning are everything in life.

Farmer's daughters marry cowherds --
That's acceptable and right.
But absurd and quite unheard of
Is a milkmaid and a knight.

I quite agree.
He quite agrees.
She quite agrees.
That's how it always shall be.

Position and positioning
Are socially conditioning.
People high, people low
Keep the state of status quo,
Which means there's nothing changeable,
Nothing's rearrangable;
Position and positioning are everything in life.

When a lad first joins the army,
This is what he learns for starters:
Never court your colonel's daughter,
Or he'll have your guts for garters!
That's how it is and how it was
And how it always shall be.

For position and positioning
Are socially conditioning.
How you dress and hold your head
Predetermine who you wed,
Which means there's nothing changeable,
Nothing's rearrangable;
Position and positioning are everything in life.

All the servants in a castle,
They reflect the world outside --
They have rank and they have station
And adhere to them with pride.
All the staff that work below stairs
May have dreams to work above,
But they're locked in their positions by Tradition's iron glove.

That's how it is?
And how it was
And how it always shall be.

We know our place and happily we bow and scrape and bend our knee,
But woe betide the woe begone
Who try to join our echelon,
For privelege is not, you see,
Confined to just the royalty.
Behind these doors, I might suggest, I'm similarly blessed.

Yes, position and positioning
Are socially conditioning.
Though you work your life away,
Where you start is where you stay,
Which means there's nothing changeable,
Nothing's rearrangable;
Position and positioning are stuck with you for life!

Position and positioning
Are socially conditioning.
Though you work your life away,
Where you work is where you stay,
Which means there's nothing changeable,
Nothing's rearrangable;
Position and positioning are everything in life!

Everything in life! Everything in life!
Life, life, life, life, life, life, life, life!

That's how it is?
And how it was?
And how it always shall be!