What will you be building when you have to go?
That is the only thing that I need to know
What slip of the hard hand will close the big show?

And what will you be building when you have to go?

There's very few reasons poor people have found

To grow any older is to run with the hounds
And hounds and poor people make money go round
And money makes favours and fevers and clowns


So I'll write my name on a big piece of paper
I'll write down my secrets, I'll get me an acre

And I'll build me a fortune just to pay for a savior
And I'll empty my pockets at last to my maker


What will you be building when you have to go?
That is the only thing that I need to know
What slip of the hard hand will close the big show?

And what will you be building when you have to go?