Three Mules

Album: Between The Wars (1995)
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  • Three mules came over a hill
    They were dragging a cart
    Creaking, it seemed to be falling apart
    Laden with millions of dreams
    It weighed more than they thought
    They never noticed the wheels getting caught
    They pulled on, staring ahead
    With blinkered eyes and lowered heads
    Hoping that all would be fine
    I see them now
    Time out of time

    Ramsey and Stanley and Neville
    Were the names of the mules
    Each wore a bridle encrusted with jewels
    And though a murmur of voices
    Was rising behind
    Each laboured on
    And they paid it no mind
    They pulled on with never a doubt
    Past boulders and holes
    Till the road petered out
    And giving a snort they sat down
    Waiting for somebody else to come round
    And from this are our lives writ large
    From the beach at Dunkirk
    To Pickett's Charge
    And it's hard to go back
    After coming this far
    Down the road

    Three mules looked over a fence
    At the field beyond
    Green as a forest it shone in the sun
    Into the stillness they broke
    Like a stone in a pond
    And kicking the gate down
    They brayed at the ground
    And pulled on tugging a dream
    Out of a smile and into a scream
    And tossed the damp soil all around
    Until the whole field turned muddy brown
    And from this are our lives writ large
    From the beach at Dunkirk
    To Pickett's Charge
    And it's hard to go back
    After coming this far
    Down the road

    Ah, but it's not very easy now being a mule
    I don't believe you appreciate all that we do
    Look at this long and unfortunate face
    Try to imagine that you're in my place
    This is my nature
    And to it I have to be true

    Three mules came over a hill
    With a sorrowful air
    Though we've been judged, they said
    It's hardly fair
    All that we did was for you
    And the good of the cause
    Then they went back to the sound of applause
    They went back into the night
    Where a sickle of moon
    Left a trickle of light
    And while we lay under our roofs
    The whole night filled up
    With the beating of hooves
    And from this are our lives writ large
    From the beach at Dunkirk
    To Pickett's Charge
    And it's hard to go back
    After coming this far
    Down the road

    And from this are our lives writ large
    And every day
    Is Pickett's Charge
    And it's hard to go back
    After coming this far
    Down the road Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 2

  • Libby from Louisville, KentuckyWithout Pickett's Charge, there wouldn't be a Dunkirk? Even the racist deep south fought Hitler.
  • Tracy from CaliforniaMore accurately, "Three Mules" refers to the National Government that held power in the UK from 1931 until 1940, and specifically to the individual governments of PM Ramsay MacDonald, PM Stanley Baldwin and PM Neville Chamberlain. The National Government was a coalition of most of the major political parties of the time. There is lots of good reading online about all three men and the National Government that they created.
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