Maintaining Law & Order Lyrics - Phil Ochs

The policemen of the city wear a uniform of blue 

Walkin' within the city's border 

Protecting all the people 

That's what they're paid to do, 

Maintaining law and order. 

You see them walkin' down the street 

Swingin' around the club 

Pistols hangin' loosely from the holster 

And the something of the soldier 

In the shedding of the blood 

Maintaining law and order. 

And at the police academy 

They're trainin' for the day 

Where the rookies are training to be colder 

Learning to be as hard as the hard world they face 

Maintaining law and order. 

Now in many southern cities 

They don't need to use their hands 

Oh, they throw them roughly in the corner 

And tell the other prisoners "here's a nigger-lovin' man" 

While maintaining law and order. 

Now I'll be the first to tell you 

That their pay is not the best 

For they all have a wife and must support her 

So the gamblers and the prostitutes pay them the rest 

While they maintain law and order. 

These are bitter words of warning 

And they have to leave you sad 

Cause a cop may save my life tomorrow 

But it's really for the good man that I'm singing about the bad 

Who are maintaining law and order. 

Now they ask for greater power 

From the bottom to the top 

Their demands daily growing bolder 

But who maintain the police and who maintain the cops 

While they maintain law law and order.