Child of the Library

Piers & Gill Cawley

I grew up in Bawtry library. It, and the interlibrary loan system were how I found and followed my love of science fiction, fantasy, falconry, card magic, and all the other passing fads and fixtures of my reading life. For a kid like me, the library was a boundless sea to sail on. Free libraries are living proof that we live in a civilised society.

And then, in February 2011, Doncaster's idiot of a mayor decided that the Bawtry branch library was too expensive and pulled funding.

Which is why this song happened. - Piers Cawley

Child of the Library

Lyrics copyright © 2011 Piers & Gill Cawley
Music copyright © 2011 Piers Cawley
Lyrics posted by permission of the author 

Chorus:
I'm a Child of the Lib'ry, it made me who I am,
It taught me about freedom and the fellowship of Man
A sea of story waits for you behind the lib'ry door,
Don't say we can't afford them any more.

The Lib'ry's where I made some friends I've known my whole life through
The Walkers and the Blacketts and the Pevensies so true.
Simp the canine cannonball, Galadriel the fair.
The daughter of a pirate king and Paddington the Bear

I've travelled South with Shackleton and all his gallant crew
And to the African interior that Mary Kingsley knew
I've rode the trackless prairie where the bison used to roam
Ive flown around the Universe, not half an hour from home.

And as I grew the libr'y fed my curiosity,
All there for the asking. All of it for free.
It's there I found the stories that I couldn't find at home.
It's where I learned I was myself and not my father's clone.

So make friends with your library, don't let it fade away.
Teach your kids the lib'ry's where you go on Saturday.
Don't let the bastards tell you they will cost to much to save
While they're shovelling our taxes down the hole the bankers made

So make a stand for the lib'ry. Stand up while you can.
Stand up for your freedom. Stand for your fellow man.
Ignorance is never bliss, don't close the lib'ry door.
For a lib'ry lost is lost forever more.