Pity The Child Lyrics

Pity The Child

Benny Andersson, Tim Rice, and Bjorn Ulvaeus
THE AMERICAN:
 When I was
nine I learned survival
 Taught myself not to care
 I was my single good
companion
 Taking my comfort there
 Up in my room I planned my

conquests
 On my own -- never asked for a
 helping hand
 No one would
understand
 I never asked the pair who fought
 below
 Just in case
they said no
 Pity the child who has ambition
 Knows what he wants to
do
 Knows that he'll never fit the system
 Others expect him to
 Pity
the child who knew his parents
 Saw their faults
 Saw their love die
before his eyes
 Pity the child that wise
 He never asked "Did I cause
your
 distress?"
 Just in case they said yes
 When I was twelve my
father moved
 out
 Left with a whimper -- not with a shout
 I didn't
miss him -- he made it perfectly
 clear
 I was a fool and probably
queer
 Fool that I was I thought this would
 bring
 Those he had left
closer together
 She made her move the moment he
 crawled away
 I was
the last the woman told
 She never let her bed get cold
 Someone moved in
-- I shut my door
 Someone to treat her just the same
 way as before
 I
took the road of least resistance
 I had my game to play
 I had the skill,
and more -- the hunger
 Easy to get away
 Pity the child with no such
weapons
 No defense, no escape from the ties
 that bind
 Always a step
behind
 I never called to tell her all I'd done
 I was only her son!

Pity the child but not forever
 Not if he stays that way
 He can get all
he ever wanted
 If he's prepared to pay
 Pity instead the careless
mother
 What she missed
 What she lost when she let me go
 And I
wonder does she know
 I wouldn't call -- a crazy thing to do
 Just in
case she said who?