Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor

Album: Little Games (1967)
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  • Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor,
    Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief,
    Doctor, baker, fine shoe-maker,
    Wise man, madman, taxman, please,
    How can I know just what to be?
    Please stop and give advice to me.

    Tell me,
    Tell me,
    How many people do I help,
    Just by sitting on the shelf,
    Tell me,
    Tell me,
    I don't want a trade at all,
    (It's for two?) living off the road.

    Oh,
    Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor,
    Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief,
    Doctor, baker, fine shoe-maker,
    Wise man, madman, taxman, please.

    Who's gonna tell me what to do?
    Then they will say that I am true.
    Maybe,
    Maybe,
    Perhaps I'll come to a great success,
    Or possible a dreadful mess.

    Maybe,
    Maybe,
    (Having buys it's?) fortune, fame,
    Living's just a little game.

    Woooo-aaah,
    Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor,
    Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief,
    Doctor, baker, fine shoe-maker,
    Wise man, madman, taxman, please.

    How can I know just what to be,
    Please stop and give advice to me,
    Tell me,
    Tell me,

    How many people do I help,
    Just by sitting on a shelf,
    Tell me,
    Tell me,

    I don't want a trade at all,
    (It's for two?) living off the road

    Oh,
    Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor,
    Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief,
    Doctor, baker, fine shoe-maker,
    Wise man, madman, taxman, please.

    Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor Writer/s: JIM MCCARTY, JIMMY PAGE
    Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 3

  • Flying Kiwi from HereInteresting history to that ditty. The original ended at "thief", but of course even centuries ago there were numerous versions. As a young child it was often read to us and i knew "who" I wanted to be. The rich man? Mum would say - No way.
    The traveling Tinker.
    The Yardbirds did an interesting song using the poem in 1967
    https://bit.ly/43fDqcs
  • Dierk from Hamburg, GermanyNo, Willie, it is not. If at all it would be the other way round, since le Carré's novel was published only in 1974, seven years after Page et al. wrote their song. Actually those lines - Tinker, tailor ... up to just before the 'please' reference an old English nursery rhyme.
  • Willie from Scottsdale, AzThe title is a rather obvious take-off of the John LeCarre novel "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy."
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