Lyrics for our time

1finny

1finny

Well-known member
Bright Eyes have a lovely song just released called Mariana Trench the opening lines are

Well they'd better save some space for me
In that growing cottage industry
Where selfishness is currency
People spend more than they make…

It resonates
 
There's room at the top
They're telling you still
But first you must learn
How to smile as you kill...
 
The The - "Heartland"

Beneath the old iron bridges, across the Victorian parks
And all the frightened people running home before dark
Past the Saturday morning cinema that lies crumbling to the ground
And the **** stinking shopping centre in the new side of town
I've come to smell the seasons change and watch the city
As the sun goes down again

Here comes another winter of long shadows and high hopes
Here comes another winter waitin' for utopia
Waitin' for hell to freeze over.

This is the land where nothing changes
The land of red buses and blue blooded babies
This is the place, where pensioners are raped
And the hearts are being cut from the welfare state
Let the poor drink the milk while the rich eat the honey
Let the bums count their blessings while they count the money

So many people can't express what's on their minds
Nobody knows them and nobody ever will
Until their backs are broken and their dreams are stolen
And they can't get what they want then they're gonna get angry

Well it ain't written in the papers, but it's written on the walls
The way this country is divided to fall
So the cranes are moving on the skyline
Trying to knock down this town
But the stains on the heartland, can never be removed
From this country that's sick, sad, and confused

Here comes another winter of long shadows and high hopes
Here comes another winter waitin' for utopia
Waitin' for hell to freeze over

The ammunition's being passed and the lords been praised
But the wars on the televisions will never be explained
All the bankers gettin' sweaty beneath their white collars
As the pound in our pocket turns into a dollar

This is the 51st state of the U.S.A.
This is the 51st state of the U.S.A.
This is the 51st state of the U.S.A."
 
Look, I need a hard hitter, need a deep stroker
Need a Henny drinker, need a weed smoker
Not a garter snake, I need a king cobra
With a hook in it, hope it lean over
He got some money, then that's where I'm headed
Pussy A1 just like his credit
He got a beard, well, I'm tryna wet it
I let him taste it, now he diabetic
I don't wanna spit, I wanna gulp
I wanna gag, I wanna choke
I want you to touch that lil' dangly thing that swing in the back of my throat
My head game is fire, punani Dasani
It's goin' in dry and it's comin' out soggy
I ride on that thing like the cops is behind me (Yeah, ah)
I spit on his mic and now he tryna sign me, woo
 
The Clash - Clampdown

Hey, hey!
Ooh!
The kingdom is ransacked
the jewels all taken back
and the chopper descends
they're hidden in the back
with a message on a half-baked tape
with the spool going round
saying I'm back here in this place
and I could cry
and there's smoke you could click on

What are we gonna do now?
Taking off his turban, they said, is this man a Jew?
'Cause they're working for the clampdown
They put up a poster saying we earn more than you!
When we're working for the clampdown
We will teach our twisted speech
To the young believers
We will train our blue-eyed men
To be young believers

The judge said five to ten, but I say double that again
I'm not working for the clampdown
No man born with a living soul
Can be working for the clampdown
Kick over the wall 'cause government's to fall
How can you refuse it?
Let fury have the hour, anger can be power
D'you know that you can use it?

The voices in your head are calling
Stop wasting your time, there's nothing coming
Only a fool would think someone could save you
The men at the factory are old and cunning
You don't owe nothing, so boy get running
It's the best years of your life they want to steal

You grow up and you calm down
You're working for the clampdown
You start wearing the blue and brown
You're working for the clampdown
So you got someone to boss around
It makes you feel big now
You drift until you brutalize
You made your first kill now

In these days of evil presidentes
Working for the clampdown
But lately one or two has fully paid their due
For working for the clampdown
Ha! Gitalong! Gitalong!
Working for the clampdown
Ha! Gitalong! Gitalong!
Working for the clampdown

Yeah I'm working hard in Harrisburg
Working hard in Petersburg
Working for the clampdown
Working for the clampdown
Ha! Gitalong! Gitalong
Begging to be melted down
Gitalong, gitalong
(Work)
(Work)
(Work) And I've given away no secrets - ha!
(Work)
(Work)
(More work)
(More work)
(Work)
(Work)
(Work)
(Work)
Who's barmy now?
 
Too many Florence Nightingales
Not enough Robin Hoods
Too many halos not enough heroes
Coming up with the goods

So you thought you'd like to change the world
Decided to stage a jumble sale
For the poor, for the poor

It's a waste of time if you know what they mean
Try shaking your box in front of the Queen
'Cause her purse is fat and bursting at the seams
It's a waste of time if you know what they mean
 
“It’s getting harder and harder to recognise the facts, too much information about nothin’ too much educated rap”
 
1finny said:
Bright Eyes have a lovely song just released called Mariana Trench the opening lines are

Well they'd better save some space for me
In that growing cottage industry
Where selfishness is currency
People spend more than they make…

It resonates
Click to expand...
I love the whole new Bright Eyes album (after the first track!)
 
Bob Dylan: Working Man's Blues #2.

There's an evenin' haze settlin' over town
Starlight by the edge of the creek
The buyin' power of the proletariat's gone down
Money's gettin' shallow and weak
Well, the place I love best is a sweet memory
It's a new path that we trod
They say low wages are a reality
If we want to compete abroad
 
Three quarters of a million jobs gone,
economy battered and broken,
the most pandemic-hit nation in Europe
sunbathes blissful, unwoken.

“Cor wot a scorcher, mine’ll be a pint!”
But just wait a minute first,
lurking among the crematorium clouds
is a sight to sour your thirst.

There are invaders crossing the channel!
Dusky looking foes at our gate!
Men and women and tiny wee children come
to siphon funds from our great state.

Eighteen of the blighters in a dinghy
bobbing along the British Sea,
look away quick while our Russian government,
puts a call into Laura at the BBC!

Shove cameras in the faces of children,
while we slight-of-hand with great aplomb
and if they mention being hungry or war-torn
don’t ask where the bombs all came from.

Keep your eyes fixed on the invaders,
hiding guns and mortars and rockets,
they’d love to take away all you own,
but you’re safe here in our pockets.
 
Absolutely love Working Man's Blues - one of his better latter day tracks in my opinion (against some stiff competition!)

I've held off on the Bright Eyes album for now even though the temptation has been great. I'll be grabbing it on vinyl next week but first listen will be blasting out of the car stereo on the drive to Anglesey this friday :)
 
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