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There once was a musical troupe
A pickin' singin' folk group
They sang the mountain ballads
And the folk songs of our land
They were long on musical ability
Folks thought they would go far
But political incompatibility led to their downfall
Well, the one on the right was on the left
And the one in the middle was on the right
And the one on the left was in the middle
And the guy in the rear was a Methodist
This musical aggregation toured the entire nation
Singing the traditional ballads
And the folk songs of our land
They performed with great virtuosity
And soon they were the rage
But political animosity prevailed upon the stage
Well, the one on the right was on the left
And the one in the middle was on the right
And the one on the left was in the middle
And the guy in the rear burned his driver's license
Well the curtain had ascended
A hush fell on the crowd
As thousands there were gathered to hear The folk songs of our land
But they took their politics seriously
And that night at the concert hall
As the audience watched deliriously
They had a free-for-all
Well, the one on the right was on the bottom
And the one in the middle was on the top
And the one on the left got a broken arm
And the guy in the rear, said, "Oh dear"
Now this should be a lesson if you plan to start a folk group
Don't go mixin' politics with the folk songs of our land
Just work on harmony and diction
Play your banjo well
And if you have political convictions keep them to yourself
Now, the one on the left works in a bank
And the one in the middle drives a truck
The one on the right's an all-night deejay
And the guy in the rear got drafted
A pickin' singin' folk group
They sang the mountain ballads
And the folk songs of our land
They were long on musical ability
Folks thought they would go far
But political incompatibility led to their downfall
Well, the one on the right was on the left
And the one in the middle was on the right
And the one on the left was in the middle
And the guy in the rear was a Methodist
This musical aggregation toured the entire nation
Singing the traditional ballads
And the folk songs of our land
They performed with great virtuosity
And soon they were the rage
But political animosity prevailed upon the stage
Well, the one on the right was on the left
And the one in the middle was on the right
And the one on the left was in the middle
And the guy in the rear burned his driver's license
Well the curtain had ascended
A hush fell on the crowd
As thousands there were gathered to hear The folk songs of our land
But they took their politics seriously
And that night at the concert hall
As the audience watched deliriously
They had a free-for-all
Well, the one on the right was on the bottom
And the one in the middle was on the top
And the one on the left got a broken arm
And the guy in the rear, said, "Oh dear"
Now this should be a lesson if you plan to start a folk group
Don't go mixin' politics with the folk songs of our land
Just work on harmony and diction
Play your banjo well
And if you have political convictions keep them to yourself
Now, the one on the left works in a bank
And the one in the middle drives a truck
The one on the right's an all-night deejay
And the guy in the rear got drafted
Lyrics submitted by autpaxautbellum37
Track duration: 02:48
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Maybe this was intentional...??? You can make the song mean whatever you want it to mean. People who argue politics are arguing two different opinionated views of the same fact, each refusing to see what the other sees.
I like to interpret the ending of the song in the ironic way: each guy ends up doing the opposite of what one might expect. The one on the left( the liberal) ends up working in a bank, in finance, a solidly conservative job. The one on the right, the conservative, turns into a late-night rock-n-roll radio personality, probably grows his hair long & smokes a lot of weed. The centrist becomes a trucker....whatever that means. Maybe it means sitting on the fence leads nowhere. Except I know truckers listen to a lot of NPR and talk radio, and you never know WHAT their politics might be, they're all over the map. And the guy in the rear - I see him as a kind of pacifist hippie protester - he gets drafted and has to learn to fight beside the ones he protested against.
They were a great folk band, but they fought because of different political views. The three in the front fought, the one in the rear, presumably the drummer, was an idiot. He burned his drivers licence. This is comical, as people were known to burn their draft cards. The drummer, being an idiot, made a mistake.
The night of the brawl on stage, during the fight, the guy in the rear said "Oh, dear!" Johnny says this in an effeminate voice, the type of voice often associated with being a gay man. The joke here is that the drummer, on top of f**king up and not knowing where he really stands or what to do, is gay, which at the time of this song was a political statement on its own. So not only does he avoid the fight, as an effeminate gay man might be more inclined to do, he reacts to it like a woman, saying, "Oh, dear!"
The point of the entire song is not that politics and music shouldn't mix. It is that drummers are idiots. Case in point: Ringo Starr, John Bonham, Keith Moon, John Densmore, Mick Fleetwood, Don Henley, and Phil Collins.
who wrote "a boy named sue" and on the cover of rolling stone for dr. hook