When I got to the golden citynMost of the gold was gonenBy that time I had some questionsnSo I flagged down a race-car bumnHe said Sonny I don't know where it's going,nBut I can show you where it all comes fromnAnd he mopped his red forehead and he pointednStraight into the setting sunnAnd people let me tell younThat what I then did sawnIt sent such a shock to my systemnThat I almost fell down dead on the floorn'cause the sun had a big chunk missingnAbout 24 carats widenAnd I stared into that hole in the golden sunnAnd you want to know what I saw inside?nI saw a giant toothpick factorynAnd it made my very soul feel sickn'cause when I say I saw a toothpick factorynI mean I saw a factory made out of toothpicksnAnd that factory was a-hoppin' and a-jumpin'nAnd a-roaring and letting off steamnAnd you know that that ain't all nownLet me tell you what else I seennBehind the factory was a giant mutant monsternWith sixty-seven separate tailsnAnd each one was a-wiggling and a-wavingnAnd each one as long as twenty-three whalesnAnd at the tip of each towering tendrilsnWere a dozen tiny pencils of leadnAnd each word they wrote was in a different languagenAnd when you put them all together they saidnYou who have arms to wrestlenAnd you who have wars to fightnAnd you who have chips on your shouldersnMust now line up and stand to my rightnBut you who are meek and lawfulnAnd you who are soft and kindnIf you don't want to see something awfulnRun and get yourself a rock to hide behindn'cause these colours are just a signalnAnd these colours are just about to fadenAnd when I read those words I shiverednAnd I saw exactl what the factory madenOut of a little doorwaynAt the end of a conveyor beltnIn the centre of a ring of firenHalf the size of a postage stampnWere a million household itemsnPacked into a metal Dukes Of Hazzard lunchboxnAnd they were all shut and sealed and fastenednWith a gold combination locknAnd just about every minutenAnother one came right out of the holenAnd crashed to the earth beneath itnAnd landed in a lump of coalnAnd every poor coal minernWho happened on a golden stonenWas made both richer and wisernAnd had to murder someone to get it homenAnd then I had to close my eyelidsnAnd I had to turn my face awaynThe race-car man was cryingnAnd I heard him angrily saynI suppose you want a glass of waternI suppose you want to eat something warmnI said, Yes but not with you sirnAnd I ran off to be alonenAnd I sat under a bridge and I wonderednWhat exactly all of these things werenAnd I found I could not yet remembernWhat I thought they were beforenI just want something evennSomething that won't cause no fussnThe sun can go about its businessnAnd leave the rest to usnAnd we'll call it evennAnd we'll call it gold