Women sewed the stars and stripes And the men, they fought the wars The children learned arithmetic And everyone was poor Young man was the hero of the day Long long hours, short short pay Lesson I learned in a history book, now It's not what they taught me Folk lore, folk lore, folk lore Your mama never told you Now the women scream for equal rights Their man wants to have an affair Children learn to hate the world And no one seems to care Lesson I learned in a history book, now It's not what they taught me Folk lore, folk lore, folk lore Your mama never told you that Some things never change Some things stay the same Some things rearranged One thing I know for sure, your heroes always die