You can't make mother cry  You can't make her twist her ragged hair  You can't make mother groan  Even when her soldier sonny  shakes his iron cocktail in the air...  You can't make mother cry  You can't make her give consent  Though she flounders at the drainboard  Though her back be down there and bent  If sleeping brings relief  She can go lie down and slumber  If sleeping brings relief  She can go lie down and slumber  If sleeping brings relief  She can go... lie down and slumber...  Slumber  She puts her hands down into the sink  Scrapes the grunge up off the bottom  Down there beneath the dishes  Where the knives lie crossed and waiting  She can't stop the kiddies talking  Their tongues be loosed upon the world  They flap until they lather  For the agony of millions  And if sleeping brings relief  They can go lie down and slumber  And if sleeping brings relief  They can go lie down and slumber  And if sleeping brings relief  They can... go lie down and slumber  Slumber...  And there be no release from anguish  For this slapstick generation  And there be no peace for all the kiddies  'Cause they're too satisfied to care  And the field of gorgeous bodies  Primed and ready in the sun  And the white flag of peace  That is hanging  Limp and useless in the air...  And the white flag of peace  That is hanging  Limp and useless in the air, yeah!  And if sleeping brings relief  You can all go lie down and slumber  And if sleeping brings relief  You can go lie down and slumber...  Slumber...