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)