[Verse 1]
Now over there in Europe they're having lots of fun
Their taxes and their big war debts have got them on the run
We have to lend them money to keep them on their feet
While a million good Americans are sleeping in the street
Our international bankers are busy night and day
They're figuring all the ways and means to give our dough away
Our working men are unemployed, they're raising quite a row
Prosperity's around the corner fifty years from now

[Chorus]
Fifty years from now, fifty years from now
Just tell the grocery man you'll pay him fifty years from now
When the landlord and the gas man come with both hands full of bills
Just point towards the West and say, "There's gold in them there hills!"
And fifty years from now, fifty years from now
We'll find a way to pay your bill somehow
Oh, the situation's funny, we've lent Europe all our money
And they won't be able to pay it back till fifty years from now

[Verse 2]
Our domestic situation is certainly hard to beat
We have to go round hungry 'cause we've raised to much to eat
We cannot ride our railroads 'cause we haven't got the fare
And we've piled up stacks of clothing till we've nothing much to wear
They'll throw you in the hoosegow if you steal a loaf of bread
But the gangsters fill our cities full of powder, smoke, and lead
We'd like to find the answer, but it seems we don't know how
We'll probably come out alright in fifty years from now
[Chorus]
Fifty years from now, fifty years from now
Oh, everything'll be lovely in fifty years from now
In the meantime all you have to do is stand around and grin
And do your starving gracefully or the cops'll run you in
It's really quite the style to take it with a smile
It's supposed to help a hungry man somehow
Though it's hard on some beginners to do without their dinners
Just think of their nice trim waistlines in fifty years from now

[Chorus]
Oh, fifty years from now, fifty years from now
We won't remember a thing about it fifty years from now
We'll be out in the marble orchard where the tombstones are in bloom
And underneath the green grass there's always plenty of room
And fifty years from now, fifty years from now
We'll be down where they can't reach us with a plow
And among the saints and sinners and the losers and the winners
It won't matter a heck of a lot fifty years from now