The Signs They Need A-Changin'
Liner notes
Maths-comm legend Matt Parker ran a hilarious but much-needed campaign to get the government to change the street signs for a football stadium, on the reasonable grounds that the polyhedron on the signs isn't what a football looks like. I wrote this on the train going to the conference, I don't think I'd be allowed to get away with that these days. I've written other songs to The Times They Are A-Changin', including Mick And Jean Are A-Leavin', about the departure of the pub landlords from Blackthorn, Stop The Rents A-Raisin', in support of a student protest, and many versions of the Throw-Away World Cup Song -- in which I generally cheer for Sweden.Come aficionados, no matter what sport
I’ve got a cause you can lend your support
The footballs on roadsigns don’t look like they ought
The shape that they’ve got is a strange ‘un
In terms of depiction it falls badly short
The signs they need a-changin’.
Come all you who question whether it’s worth it
To fix all these signs that are slightly imperfect:
It looks like a pic of no football on earth, it
Distracts me, it’s frankly endangerin’
We have to dispel this hexagonal surfeit
The signs they need a-changin’.
Come you who suppose that it’s only a game
Just look at the signs in Brazil and in Spain
They get it right, and to add to our shame,
We’re being trolled by an Australian
It’s only in Malta they do it the same
The signs they need a changin’.
Come you in charge of all matters procedural
Surely it won’t be that great an upheaval?
To make them truncatedly icosahedral
Instead of the current arrangement
You’re fixing a sign, not a blinking cathedral
The signs they need a-changin’.