Let the record show
It's 1964, in the city of New York
And take the train to Queens
And meet a Jewish family
He's the youngest one of three
And his brothers have left home
And he's on the same road
Just credits shy of a diploma
But he wants to represent
The struggling-with-rent
But he can't live on both sides of the fence
So he continues to insist that he's no champagne socialist
And he's not coming back
After studying the facts
He knows of all the problems of the past
But he's quick to concede
That in order to proceed
We can't just keep on preaching what we need
To become a working man
Is to live and work with them
And this is something you can't pretend
So he continues to insist that he's no champagne socialist