I'm Gonna Be An Engineer - Pete Seeger, Si Kahn, Jane Sapp

When I was a little girl I wished I was a boy

I tagged along behind the gang and wore my corduroys

Everybody said I only did it to annoy

But I was gonna be an engineer

Mamma said, «Why can’t you be a lady?

Your duty is to make me the mother of a pearl

Wait until you’re older, dear

And maybe you’ll be glad that you’re a girl

Dainty as a Dresden statue, gentle as a Jersey cow

Smooth as silk, gives cream and milk

Learn to coo, learn to moo

That’s what you do to be a lady, now

When I went to school I learned to write and how to read

History, geography and home economy

And typing is a skill that every girl is sure to need

To while away the extra time until the time to breed

And then they had the nerve to ask, what would I like to be?

I says, «I'm gonna be an engineer!»

«No, you only need to learn to be a lady

The duty isn’t yours, for to try to run the world

An engineer could never have a baby

Remember, dear, that you’re a girl»

She’s smart — for a woman

I wonder how she got that way?

You get no choice, you get no voice

Just stay mum, pretend you’re dumb

That’s how you come to be a lady, today

Well, I started as a typist but I studied on the sly

Working out the day and night so I could qualify

And every time the boss came in, he pinched me on the thigh

Said, «I've never had an engineer!»

«You owe it to the job to be a lady

The duty of the staff is to give the boss a whirl

The wages that you get are crummy, maybe

But it’s all you get, 'cause you’re a girl»

Then Jimmy came along and we set up a conjugation

We were busy every night with loving recreation

I spent my days at work so he could get an education

And now he’s an engineer!

He said: «I know you’ll always be a lady

The duty of my darling is to love me all her life

Could an engineer look after or obey me?

Remember, dear, that you’re my wife!»

As soon a Jimmy got a job, I studied hard again

Then busy at me turret-lathe a year or two, and then

The morning that the twins were born, Jimmy says to them

«Your mother was an engineer!»

«You owe it to the kids to be a lady

Dainty as a dish-rag, faithful as a chow

Stay at home, you got to mind the baby

Remember you’re a mother now!»

Every time I turn around there’s something else to do

Cook a meal or mend a sock or sweep a floor or two

Listening to Jimmy Young — it makes me want to spew

I was gonna be an engineer

I only wish that I could be a lady

I’d do the lovely things that a lady’s s’posed to do

I wouldn’t even mind if only they would pay me

Then I could be a person too

What price for a woman?

You can buy her for a ring of gold

To love and obey, without any pay

You get a cook and a nurse for better or worse

You don’t need a purse when a lady is sold

Oh, but now the times are harder and me Jimmy’s got the sack;

I went down to Vicker’s, they were glad to have me back

But I’m a third-class citizen, my wages tell me that

But I’m a first-class engineer!

The boss he says «We pay you as a lady

You only got the job because I can’t afford a man

With you I keep the profits high as may be

You’re just a cheaper pair of hands.»

You got one fault, you’re a woman;

You’re not worth the equal pay

A bitch or a tart, you’re nothing but heart

Shallow and vain, you’ve got no brain

Well, I listened to my mother and I joined a typing pool

Listened to my lover and I put him through his school

If I listen to the boss, I’m just a bloody fool

And an underpaid engineer

I been a sucker ever since I was a baby

As a daughter, as a mother, as a lover, as a dear

But I’ll fight them as a woman, not a lady

I’ll fight them as an engineer!