(A) LITTLE BIT OF PAPER

(A) LITTLE BIT OF PAPER

by

Matt McGinn

I’m the memory of the ages, I’ll be here till time is done

I have carried civilisation from the shadows of the sun

Just a simple bit of paper and I’m here to play my part

In the fields of man’s endeavours you will find me at the heart

I was brought up in a fir tree with a million pals of mine

With very great care they kept the tree till it was mature and fine

Twas then the forest began to ring with a most unmusical song

The mighty voice called, ‘Timber’ and we all fell to the ground

Then they threw us in the river but my pals and me just laughed

As they bound us with some other logs to form a gigantic raft

My spirits they were dampened and I felt a bit of a mug

When they took us to the mill, me boys, in an ocean-going tug

I’m the memory of the ages, I’ll be here till time is done

I have carried civilisation from the shadows of the sun

Just a simple bit of paper and I’m here to play my part

In the fields of man’s endeavours you will find me at the heart

Well they dragged us and they shoved us just as though we’d broken the law

They chopped us and they chipped us and they tickled us with their saws

They bashed us like potatoes and they grated us like cheese

They boiled us into slush, me boys, to bubble and to wheeze

They touched us up with colour and applied some China clay

They dried us and they polished us and they treated us on the way

The engineer and chemist and the man that washed the machine

They swore I was the finest thing that they had ever seen

Now my friends are off to India, to Italy and to Spain

To wrap up things and help to feed the electronic brain

Some’ll be making furniture and some will close the wall

While I’m for education where I’m the daddy of them all

I’m the memory of the ages, I’ll be here till time is done

I have carried civilisation from the shadows of the sun

Just a simple bit of paper and I’m here to play my part

In the fields of man’s endeavours you will find me at the heart