Lord Give Us Frugality - But Not Yet Poem by Keith Shorrocks Johnson

It is not so much a question of not knowing what to do
We knew what's right and wrong before we were elected.
We heard a lot of stories and we reckoned they were true
About developments and the way they got selected.
We know we mustn't fall into the pit
But when we're on a roller
We forget!

We are just a gang who can't say 'no'
We're in a terrible fix!
We always say 'Come on, let's go', just when we ought to say 'Nix.'

When a hustler gives a heist a whirl
We know we ought to give his face a smack!
But as soon as someone shakes the money tree
We somehow sort of want to fill the sack!
We are just fools when city lights glow
We can't be prissy and quaint
We aren't the types that just wait
How can we be what we ain't?
We can't say 'no! '

Whatcha gonna do when a scammer talks purty
And starts to talk turkey
Whatcha gonna do?
Supposing that he says
That there are rake-offs like baubles
Or a pay-back which boggles
Whatcha gonna do?

Supposing that he says there's pie
In the sky that's sweeter than cream
And he's got to build his dream or die?

Whatcha gonna do when he talks that way?
... Spit in his eye?


We are just a gang that can't say no
Can't seem to say it at all -
We hate to see a pitcher go
When he is paying a call!

For a while we act refined and cool,
A sitting on the velveteen settee
Then we think of that old golden rule:
‘To do for him what he would do for me'!

We can't resist the con men
Such plausible and affable chaps
With an Apple on their laps
Something inside of us just snaps
We can't say no!

We are just a gang who can't say 'no'
Yessin is how we get screwed!
With or without the mistletoe
Here at party central
We're in a holiday mood!

Other councils may be harder to trick
But those other gangs ain't havin' any fun!
Every time we give a big tick
We have a funny feelin' that we won!

Though I can feel the undertow
The voters are muted in complaint
'Till it's too late for restraint -
Then when we want to but we cain't
We cain't say 'no! '