i adore a confrontation and i should be ashamed a carnival of complication everyone s to blame we can see the rocket s red glare pipe bomb bursting in the air as we proudly hail our taxis out of the fight singing born of this nation of white bread foundation we re taping a king beaten of his crown my country tis of thee sweet land of irony spoonful of sugar to wash it down i have seen the hungry faces and i have been removed evidence in welfare cases never being proved we ve written books on education summoned federal regulation skeleton hid deeply til its bones turn to dust i know an old lady who swallowed a fly i don t know why exactly i guess she ll die my country tis of thee sweet land of irony spoonful of sugar to wash it down and god save the queen oh and pardon the king and our ballots we ll stuff then drink til we drown my country tis of thee sweet land of irony spoonful of sugar to wash it down