[KenWittlief]

Im Gonna be An Engineer -by Peggy Seeger
(Ode to Kate GLeason :^)

when I was a little girl I wished I was a boy
hung around with all the gang and wore my tuguroys
everybody said I only did it to annoy
but I was gonna be an engineer!

Momma said why cant you be a lady?
your duty is to make me the mother of a pearl
wait until your older dear then maybe
you'll be glad that your a girl

When I went to school I learned to write and how to read
history geography and home econony
and typing is a skill that every girl is sure to need
to while away the extra time until its time to breed
and when they had the nerve to ask what would I like to be
I said Im gonna be an engineer

No you only need to learn to be a lady
the duty isnt yours for to try and run the world
an engineer could never have a baby
remember dear that your a girl!

Well, I started as a typist but I studied on the sly
Working out the day and night so I could qualify
And every time the boss came in, he pinched me on the thigh
Said, "I've never kissed an engineer!"
"You owe it to the job to be a lady
The duty of the staff is to give the boss a whirl
The wages that you get are crummy, maybe
But it's all you get, 'cause you're a girl"

Then Jimmy came along and we set up a conjugation
We were busy every night with loving recreation
I spent my days at work so he could get an education
And now he's an engineer!

He said: "I know you'll always be a lady
The duty of my darling is to love me all her life
Could an engineer look after or obey me?
Remember, dear, that you're my wife!"

As soon a Jimmy got a job, I studied hard again
Then busy at me turret-lathe a year or two, and then
The morning that the twins were born, Jimmy says to them
"Kids your mother was an engineer!"
"You owe it to the kids to be a lady
Dainty as a dish-rag, faithful as a chow
Stay at home, you got to mind the babys
Remember you're a mother now!"

Every time I turn around there's something else to do
Cook a meal or mend a sock or sweep a floor or two
Listening to Jimmy Young - it makes me want to spew
I was gonna be an engineer.

I only wish that I could be a lady
I'd do the lovely things that a lady's s'posed to do
I wouldn't even mind if only they would pay me
Then I could be a person too.

Well, I listened to my mother and I joined a typing pool
Listened to my lover and I put him through his school
If I listen to the boss, I'm just a bloody fool
And an underpaid engineer
I been a sucker ever since I was a baby
As a daughter, as a mother, as a lover, as a peer
But I'll fight em as a woman, not a lady
I'll fight em as an engineer!

Words and music by Peggy Seeger in 1970