Summer Song #13... I Won't Grow Up!

I won't grow up,

I don't want to go to school.

Just to learn to be a parrot,

& recite a silly rule.

If growing up means

It would be beneath my dignity to climb a tree,

I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up

Not me!

Not I,

Not me!

Not me!

I won't grow up,

I don't want to wear a tie.

& a serious expression

In the middle of July.

& if it means I must prepare

To shoulder burdens with a worried air,

I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up

Not me,

Not I,

Not me!

So there!

Never gonna be a man,

I won't!

Like to see somebody try

& make me.

Anyone who wants to try

& make me turn into a man,

Catch me if you can.

I won't grow up.

Not a penny will I pinch.

I will never grow a mustache,

Or a fraction of an inch.

'Cause growing up is awfuller

Than all the awful things that ever were.

I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up,

No sir,

Not I,

Not me,

So there!

I won't grow up!

No, I promise that I won't

I will stay a boy forever

& be banished if I don't!

& Never Land will always be

The home of youth & joy & liberty

I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up

Not me!

Not me!

No sir!

Carolyn Leigh

1954