[MACHEATH]
You gentlemen who think you have a mission
To purge us of the seven deadly sins
Should first sort out the basic food position
Then start your preaching, that's where it begins
You lot who preach restraint and watch your waist as well
Should learn for once the way the world is run
However much you twist, whatever lies that you tell
Food is the first thing, morals follow on
So first make sure that those who now are starving
Get proper helpings when we all start carving

[VOICE OFFSTAGE]
What keeps mankind alive?

[MACHEATH]
What keeps mankind alive?
The fact that millions are daily tortured
Stifled, punished, silenced, oppressed
Mankind can keep alive thanks to its brilliance
In keeping its humanity repressed

[CHORUS]
For once you must try not to shirk the facts
Mankind is kept alive by bestial acts
[MRS. PEACHUM]
You say that girls may strip with your permission
You draw the line dividing us from sin
So first sort out the basic food position
Then start your preaching, that's where we begin
You lot who bank on your desires and our disgust
Should learn for once the way the world is run
Whatever lies you tell, however much you twist
Food is the first thing, morals follow on
So first make sure that those who now are starving
Get proper helpings when we all start carving

[VOICE OFFSTAGE]
What keeps mankind alive?

[MRS. PEACHUM]
What keeps mankind alive?
The fact that millions are daily tortured
Stifled, punished, silenced, oppressed
Mankind can keep alive thanks to its brilliance
In keeping its humanity repressed

[CHORUS]
For once you must try not to shirk the facts
Mankind is kept alive by bestial acts