What Keeps Mankind Alive? by Pet Shop Boys

(brecht/weill)
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You gentlemen who think you have a mission
To purge us of the seven deadly sins
Should first sort out the basic food position
Then start your preaching, that's where it begins

You lot, who preach restraint and watch your waist as well
Should learn for all time how the world is run
However much you twist, whatever lies you tell
Food is the first thing, morals follow on

So first make sure that those, who now are starving
Get proper helpings, when we all start carving

What keeps mankind alive, the fact that millions
Are daily tortured, stifled, punished, silenced, oppressed
Mankind can keep alive, thanks to its brilliance
At keeping its humanity repressed
For once, you must not try to shirk the facts:
Mankind is kept alive by bestial acts.

You say the girls may strip with your permission (whoa!)
You draw the line dividing art from sin
So first sort out the basic food position
Then start your preaching, that's where it begins

You lot, who bank on your desires and our disgust
Should learn for all time how the world is run
Whatever lies you tell, however much you twist
Food is the first thing, morals follow on

So first make sure that those, who now are starving
Get proper helpings, when we all start carving

What keeps mankind alive, the fact that millions
Are daily tortured, stifled, punished, silenced, oppressed
Mankind can keep alive, thanks to its brilliance
At keeping its humanity repressed
For once, you must not try to shirk the facts
Mankind is kept alive by bestial acts

Mankind can keep alive, thanks to its brilliance
At keeping its humanity repressed
For once, you must not try to shirk the facts:
Mankind is kept alive by bestial acts