We’re all working for the Pharaoh

In an echo of last week’s post of Brecht’s “A Worker Reads History” here is the remarkable Richard Thompson, who himself sits high up in the Rustbelt’s musical Pantheon, with ‘Pharoah’ from his 1988 album Amnesia.

Pharaoh

Pharaoh he sits in his tower of steel
The dogs of money all at his heel
Magicians cry “Oh truth! Oh real!”
We’re all working for the Pharaoh

A thousand eyes, a thousand ears
He feeds us all, he feeds our fears
Don’t stir in your sleep tonight, my dears
We’re all working for the Pharaoh

It’s Egypt land, Egypt land
We’re all living in Egypt land
Tell me, brother, don’t you understand
We’re all working for the Pharaoh

Hidden from the eye of chance
The men of shadow dance a dance
We’re all struck into a trance
We’re all working for the Pharaoh

The idols rise into the sky
Pyramids soar, Sphinxes lie
Head of dog, Osiris eye
We’re all working for the Pharaoh

And it’s Egypt land, Egypt land
We’re all living in Egypt land
Tell me, brother, don’t you understand
We’re all working for the Pharaoh

I dig a ditch, I shape a stone
Another battlement for his throne
Another day on earth is flown
We’re all working for the Pharaoh

Call it England, you call it Spain
Egypt rules with a whip and chain
Moses free my people again
We’re all working for the Pharaoh

And it’s Egypt land, Egypt land
We’re all living in Egypt land
Tell me, brother, don’t you understand
We’re all working for the Pharaoh

Pharaoh he sits in his tower of steel
Around his feet the princes kneel
Far beneath we shoulder the wheel
We’re all working for the Pharaoh

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