Institution
The Institution
In the institution Drs do their rounds
They ask how you are feeling what’s getting you do
down?
Nurses serve the dinners Domestics clean the floors
And there’s always a long stand waiting for you in the stores
2 In the institution Patients queue for fags
And some of them have rubbish stored in several bin bags
Staff nurse counts the cutlery makes another pot of tea
There’s a party in the nursing home after work come along with me
Bonfire night and everyone is gathered round the fire
Charlie from the social club gets caught short with desire
The pretty girl in the kitchens has been pleasuring him so
But the ward clerk has reported it now everyone will know….
3 Janis runs the day centre and she’s been there for years
She lives with Len the painter and she knows all the words
To every Beatles song well she’s from Liverpool don’t you know?
She saw them when they first stared out all those years ago
4 A couple in the woodwork group kicking off again
Terry’s had another fit and he needs his PRN
The porters on the blower the trolley will be late
Then it’s be good for the night staff come tomorrow I’m on late
Rick the charge nurse fixes broken cars
He lives on site in staff accommodation but his finest art
Is beating up the patients
I reported him but no
The witnesses were petrified and they as good as told me so I had to go
The group from psyche rehab is cooking beans on toast
In the self help skills department where I swore I saw a ghost
Of a woman pushing an old pram she just floated through the wall
I was staying late rehearsing with my band in the old dance hall
The pretty young psychologist is sitting on my knee
She says this is the first time that she’s taken LSD
You can stay on the sofa bed if you’re really that bleary eyed
But no soon as I’ve mentioned it she’s throwing up outside…
There are women who have lived here all their adult lives
They tell you crazy stories about a missing child
The punishment in those days was to throw away the key
There’s a world of bitter sadness here and subjective cruelty
In the institution
It’s an institution
We are the institution