(Don't blame it on the children)

You know we read in the papers
And we hear on the air
Of killing and stealing
And crime everywhere

And we sigh and we say
As we notice the trend
This young generation
Where will it end

But can we be sure
That it's their fault alone
I mean, that maybe a
Part of it isn't our own

Are we less guilty
Who place in their way
Too many things
That lead them astray

Like too much money to spend
And too much idle time
Too many movies
The kind of passion and crime

Too many books, man
That are not even fit to be read
Too much evil in what they hear said

And too many children
Encouraged to roam
By too many parents
Who won't even stay at home

(Don't blame it on the children)

Well, man, kids don't make the movies
And they don't write the books
And they don't go out
And paint gay pictures
Of gangsters and crooks

They don't make the liquor
And they don't run the bars
And they don't make the laws
And they don't buy the cars

They don't peddle junk that
Well, that addles the brain
That's all done by older folks, man
Greedy for gain

Delinquent teenagers, oh, man
How quick we do condemn
The sins of a nation
And then go and blame it on them

But the laws that are blameless
The Savior makes known
Now you tell me who is there
Among us to cast the first stone

For in so many cases
It's sad but it's true
That the title Delinquent
Fits older folks too

(Don't blame it on the children)
(Don't blame it on the children)
(Don't blame it on the children)