When We Were Boys At School Lyrics - Front Parlour Ballads - Richard Thompson

All he ever wanted to do was harm 

All he ever wanted to be was cruel 

At 12 years old Fate marked his brow 

And he said, I have a mission now 

But we laughed at his clothes 

And the blackheads round his nose 

When We Were Boys At School 

Teachers spoke of Hannibal and Hector 

Nimrod and Nietzsche were more his fuel 

Swastikas and pentagrams 

Flourished from his tender hands 

But we watched in the rain 

As the bully beat him up again 

When We Were Boys At School 

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And he said, my camouflage will hide me 

I'll be as grey as the world is grey 

A thousand government corridors 

Behind which of a thousand doors 

Will I delegate and rule 

O little boys at school 

Photos 

All he ever wanted to do was harm 

All he ever wanted to be was cruel 

And sometimes when the night is still 

I can feel the gathering of his will 

I can feel him flex the strings of power 

And grope to his appointed hour 

But we laughed at the dirt 

And the frayed cuffs on his shirt 

When We Were Boys At School