The will to respond when the chase is on Sends people up trees cos when they're gone The carbon dioxide in the air Will put a sweat on the polar bears The ice will melt and we'll feel the freeze Of freashwater currents in the northern seas Then the population expands to squeeze Between frozen wasted and the overheated shade
Will it be man made This recipe for disaster? Have we a part to play In this recipe for disaster This recipe for disaster
The need to be fed cos if you're not you're dead Gave us the chemical safety net Now as we scan the ingredients We're back in the classroom feeling dense Then lists get made and facts displayed That tell us what's behind the names Sedation and addiction on to Staying alive on processed food chains
Will it be man made This recipe for disaster? There's human brains In this recipe for disaster? This recipe for disaster
The desise to resist when nature's twisted Animal/Human rights restricted Leads to people who won't be led By the mainstreamlining intheir heads Linking up to a new perspective It's a chain reaction cause and effective It's happening now fast not slow Active ingredients go go go!
It's happening now fast not slow (x3) Active ingredients go go go!
Now we're face to face With a recipe for disaster Have we something to say In this recipe for disaster? Is there a difference made To this recipe for disaster? Have we a part to play In this recipe for disaster? It depends what part you're after Go go go!
Bob goes bouncing down the road to Bremen 24 hours goes to fast Drinks in elbows - crowded bars Mixing becks and kummerling 6 a.m. and where are we? In Bremen In Bremen, in Bremen
Bob goes bouncing down the road to Oakland Coffee, pizza, liquor, store Sits in the sun it's Califor- nia get brown get down to the bay All the punks come out to play in Oakland In Oakland, in Oakland
Bob goes bouncing down the road to Bath Goes to the heart of the west country Where the grass is yellow and the cider's green - I reckon it's the other way round - Bubbling up from the underground in Bath
Bob met a friend of a friend of yours Bob got a letter and wrote some more Bob saved up and got the plane Now Bob's in the kitchen going insane Bremen, Oakland, Bath and on Cos it don't matter where you come from If you think this is it you're in for a shock Cos the whole fuckin' planet is a big punk rock!
Welcome to Norway
Well shake it up and fizzle it out, call it what you will There's nothing quite like getting out of your face to stop you felling ill…
But the next day you're out there and you're still stoned Your only seeing policemen, you're feeling all alone You need a dose of vitamins, you need some H2O Concentration comes too fast and then it tends to go And if you get all stoned again the whole thing just repeats So pull it up and wake it up with arms and legs and feet
Then you get to be so knackered cos, you're doing this and that You need to quit the madness, re-learn how to relax By the time you've reached the point at which you've lost the will to rush You'll be so relaxed that next day, you'll be doing twice as much! So pour it down or cook it up, call it what you can There's nothing quite like food and drink to stop you going mad
But the next day you're out there and you're still full Of alcohol, cholesterol, wind and piss and drool You need a pile of tablets, you need a place to sit The time it takes to run around has shrunk and doesn't fit
Then gradually you lose the speeds Of fast and slow and ideas feed From work to play until the need To set the gap has gone
So until then I think I'll spend The week re-living the weekend And vice-versa he's off again Now where's that chorus gone?
Open it up or close it down but take it when you go Cos there's nothing quite like going away to a place you hardly know And having a session of mental regress - yes yes I think we get the point… joint?! Pint?! O - S - L - O Good night!
I been hating so much for far too long I can't think of anything happy for a song It's all been covered in critical spit Dredged out and analysed bit by bit
I I I hate this society it made me learn How to hate so much, now it's hard to turn This attitude it produce in me To something more/less B & T
Bitter and twisted Waving our fists And taking the piss But who's the victim? It's easier to hate then it is to laugh Bitter and twisted Couldn't predict it Could end up seeming self-inflicted Or is it introspection gone too far
It's war in here cos it's war out there It's easier to say 'And we don't care' Third degree burns from the third world war It was fought on television so we all got the score
Here's a commercial break in between The commercialisation of the human being Hungry eyes, and those that say There's no food left to eat today
It's bitter and twisted When they insist It's always been like this - Impossible To stop the crisis they've arranged Try to resist it Maybe you missed it The revolution just got pissed It's a choice, relax or drive yourself insane
On the other hand it's a really nice day All the insanity's gone away Good to relax not feeling much, dot, dot I'm not doing enough! Strength and weakness, chaos and orders Happiness and hate, all messing with the borders Turning my face from the outside view To 'have a nice day' now I'm splitting in two
Twisted, I'm splitting in two Bitter and twisted, I'm splitting in two…
Settle back and take a viewpoint Heard before in wooden rooms Hatred of authority begins with Doing what you're told to do When advice replaces orders Hatred slowly turns to caution Caution fades with interaction Agreement - repetition - slogan
Waving slightly the banner cries ' There's no room left to advertise Nothing left to advertise' In all direction seeing signs Of struggles lost to compromise
Sometimes it seems like the problem's So deep that the digging's getting nowhere Sometimes we have to find solutions No more distractions We're digging a hole Just to make sure (x2) We're digging a hole Just to make sure (x2) We're digging a hole
Has it got to the point where the problems are gone to the surface once dug up and revealed? Are they so in our face that they've come to replace the things that we used to call 'real'? Has it got to the point where the problems are gone because they got questioned and discussed? Has it really all changed for the better these days? Imagine a 'Veggies'R'us'
Acceptance is static retention Of orders delivered on masse We put ourselves outside the picture But still sit reflecting on glass So when the institutions call Check your conscience before you open the door Be happy knowing who you are And still digging holes Just to make sure (x2) We know what we're talking about We're still digging holes Just to make sure (x2) We know what we found down here Still digging holes (x2)
==== Sacred Cows ====</font></p> Headlines all went mad cow disease sensation Bseized by panic in a big meat-eating nation
They told us beef was safe then told us not to eat it Got banned from exportation but not from the supermarket Before someone else died But the people they all cried 'We need our meat and the money it makes' You can't get a better bit of profit on your plate
Frightening to see how money and tradition Can over-ride the facts and force a position
Now stickers in four-wheeled vehicules say 'I'm proud to eat beef' instead of 'My other car's polluting as well' So much that it's fucking up the food chain, hell What's that taste? It's animal waste The look on your face says 'What's that smell?' It's the stink of dead flesh It's the sunday best And other sacred cows But they've all gone mad now Well you'd be pretty mad too If what happened to cows happened to you Having your children taken away Forced to stand in a pen each day Fed the shit from other dead things Then chopped to bits…
We all suggest you go vegeterian Then all these problems are all sorted out!
==== Pills ==== I was taking all the pills to stop me feeling ill again Supermarket shelves collapsing at the till again Doctor couldn't help patients running out again
Where's the next step up? All went blank for a couple of pages Hazy recollection of staring for ages, and ages
So I didn't know how, I didn't know when An easy choice became the trend Weakening the thrills, less money to spend Someone had a car borrowed from a friend
Memory distortion ten years on and back again Thrills a generation crash into the window pane Another empty parking space
A friend of ours was here We drank a lot of beer Next day his Vauxhall Cavalier Had gone and disappeared
Taking all the pills only went so far Did tou get the thrills when you took the car? Driving up the price of running out of anything Caught in the distortion, distortion of escapism brutality He's wasted - escapist - in his overdrawn reality He's wasted (x4)
In the silence of next door Lives a man fought in the war Wary eyes through parted curtains Seems Ok but can't be certain
Uneasy feeling uninformed, or Out of touch it's, well, abnormal Maybe chat with that chap later Meanwhile need to read the paper Sex and fashion, competitions Popstars praising politicians Amusement park for our derision So assured of our position - None of it to do with us
And now the turning of the page Produces yet another bomb Distorded children's faces freeze Where's the next one coming from?
Isolated incidents Everyday events
Bombs and guns in daily doses Fashion-nation with psychosis Public trials of private loners Staring blank into the cameras Feeds a need for reassurance Civilisation's working for us Takes a bomb to show the crack, and All we see is more distraction
Headlines - violence, war and sex Disintegration nothing left Of civilisation - here's the news It's what we get accustumed to Unaware of getting used to Being scared of other people
If the world is going crazy Staying in could be essential (x4)
(Where've I seen that face before? Someone new moved in next door Next in the line of next door neighbours Maybe get to meet him later)
Think back to a bar surrounded by crazyness Unthinking drunken punk excess Lives exploding from the stress Of thoughts restrained by soberness Misconception misdirection Shredding lifelong friend connection Contorded faces barbed wire words Fighting talk that goes - heard
ABC defences rise From loss of all pretences - why This is real as one perceives it But total shit as the other sees it
Bang - two friends get seperated I hate to see it generated One dog barks the other runs To get another bigger gun
Observers stay but know the fun Has gone - you know that everyone Has half an idea what went wrong But being drunk the idea's gone The idea's gone
The questions all get theorised The answer sleeps unrealised See you in the morning then I hope we see those to again Clinking glasses eye to eye Friends like that don't compromise
I had writer's block I was put in the dock By critics of lyrics said it had to stop The time to whine had gone tick-tock Too much too long and over the top
Too much too soon? Too little too late? It was 'the same old tunes' and they 'started to grate' Mere speech ballons this was never a debate Why you still looking for the sell-by-date?
I'm feeling the cost of thinking It's all been said before Something got lost You knew it already Or just got bored With all this social observation
Too much too soon? Too little too late? Any old excuse to disengage 'Don't get so mad' - 'We get tired of hearing it' - Have you seen where this picture fits?
Into the frame of parenthood Sometime when it was understood That parents knew 'nothing' and couldn't 'relate' Now I'm hearing the same from people my age
And into the frame of teachers and school Who always knew more but kept to the rules Teaching the same as they'd been taugh before Never updating, no inner thoughts
And into the frame of governments Who demonise our common sense Distort our real experience Democracy bows to its own pretention Its in your reflection
Attention span at closing time? Don't talk politics! Make it rhyme! And catch the feet to dance a yard But politics makes us think too hard!
The way we follow or lead or decide To co-operate or just stand aside The way we say 'What you doing today?' Or couldn't give a shit how we work and play Is politics What we each decide Is politics To be true or lies Is politics It's time to decide Whether how we live (how we live) is our own free will (own free will) Are we running our lives? Or are we standing still?
I love it when you get neurotic! All the underside erotic thoughts The nightmare spikes But I'm grinning, it's exactly like Mirror talking in contempt Now I know no-one's exempt From releasing a hidden psychosis Splits second revelations
I feel you feel I know too much It seems can't do anything right I know you know I feel too much It seems I can't do anything right
And when the other real me And when the other real you Get close enough to be One out of two We'll back off denying as we even prove it By making excuses that far from remove it
I feel you feel I know too much It seems can't do anything right I know you know I feel too much It seems I can't do anything right
Personal shame at revealing ourselves Kills off the contact we need to survive If we tap at the source and say 'What the hell?' We'll know who we are and we'll feel more alive We'll feel more alive
That's how the theories go But who's to say it's right? We contradict each other Then say the other's got it right We take it to extremes Just to conclude it feels alright When we stop talking to ourselves Who do we turn to to say right! (I can't do anything right) (x4)
Shut up! It's alright really! It's alright really! Now it's alright really! It's alright! Really!
Why are you leaving? Something to believe in Just left the building here comes nothing Seen the revolution go full circle And now it's so much more relaxing Where are they going? Didn't they know it's Hard for us to feel rejected Contrast - diction number one, 'it can be done Without losing our perspective'
Some will come and some will go But some will stay despite temptation Music bought and sold back Is a shadow of its generation What it meant and what it means Is in our heads not on the screen Communication interaction Liveliness and satisfaction
This is what we get from music Corporations just abuse it We keep our own company This culture is not for sale
Why all the complaining? Nobody's the same when It comes down to hard decisions But how far do you take it? Do you need to make it? What's the price of your opinions?
Ideas come and ideas go And some will stay to form the picture In our heads or on the screens Acted out or sold as culture It's a lifestyle revolution Just to share ideas for free Your revolution will not be televised Except on pay-per-view T.V.
This is what we get for asking For someone else to do it for us A culture full of instancy This culture is not for sale
Well they outlined all the options And gave us the directions And told us lead don't follow anyone It was hard to stop once started And the promises soon departed And we found out it was business and not fun
Now where's the reason for it? The starting point's obscure, it's Getting hard to recognised a friend These men in suits and braces Have no feelings on their faces When they ask us to re-write that song again, no
It's not just music it's not just views It's almost anything artistic It's not just art that's only part of Expression free from greed and profit
This culture, this culture… Our culture Is not for sale, not for sale…
Repetition That it's what I always do No more life in two dimension
Habit retention It's a habit Got to grab it And to break it up Into pieces
The cycle never ends Another habit Repetition And addiction
Routine It's a habit It was beautiful So we grab it And we broke it Into little pieces Speed it up and make a mess Of anything, anything…
I want to throw it all away (x2) Routine Repetition Press the button Here we go again
You can't have it back again No, no, no
I'm gonna throw it all away I'm gonna do something today
Acclimatized slowly to image distortion Selling the wares and wearing so thin Which is worse? To be in or out of proportion? Documentality always stays in
Squarely screened and sat to face the facts The content lost the meaning, cos they didn't show the cracks Credits roll and take their toll on the roads that share the fields Where the factory tractor plows the truth and buried what is real
Overlaid the essence with the smell of leisure time Culture waste as public taste gets dulled and undefined Belief in the disposable is just like being blind So brighten up the packaging, put up a few more signs
Eat this fast food - Read this, buy now Main course soundtrack - Discover just how We win, you lose - Who? What? Where? When? Only joking sit back - Then forget and start again
I've been told I've got a mind of my own (I've been told I've got a mind of my own) And they say you can't believe anything you're told (And they say you can't believe anything you're told) And I read how easy it is to make decisions And I saw someone like you on the television
Blind people must fall in love with a sense of mind, a sense of touch But when you insist on finding shadows in which to kiss And down the lights to cover the sights of your nakedness
It feels so restrained Are we really ashamed Of what we possess? It's just nakedness
Feeling too fat, feeling too thin Needing some clothing to cover the skin Thinking in terms of original sin Not knowing where the other one's been
Afraid to discuss the difference between Falling in love and physical need A thousand distant painted looks Staring from adverts and top-shelf books Makes us afraid of what we reveal How it's portrayed is not how it feels
It feels so individual It feels so other-personal Dresses up creates fiction Under restriction
Fear of not being what the other one sees Image contradicting what lies underneath All the protection comes off in the end Nothing left to judge you by, nothing to defend
Covered up the truth so long it seemed it wasn't there Here it is so laugh aloud or tell me why you're scared
Vacancy - Room to let any dumb ideas in to this empty head “Gospel, man!” - Don't quote me please, it was the first thing I thought but now it's been said And you'll lead the conversations that lie ahead Whit the empty phrases by which you're led
Do you know what I heard the other night? Guess what so - and so said to me The majority of ears were only being polite Couldn't be bothered to disagree
A social distance set By a liking of something hard to forget A need to remeber and recognise And inspiration that over-rides Any hesitation or compromise Not relying on dubious facts in diguise
What you eargerly collect And subsequently resurrect From aquaintances and T.V. set Falls on distant ears But when you tell it like it is From your own ideas and what they give We're all involved in the way you live And the distance dissappears
Well, I don't know who invented the clock But it began a process that will never stop At the age of six or seven or so It was a decoration that went tick-tock Then by ten they invented the watch Portable guidance till the hands fell off And a few years later it was luminous hands Then digital figures to help you understand
Conditioned by punctuality Knew when to be there, but not where to be
We thought we could control the time By always knowing what it was Now every action has a certain speed As we let time control us
Every technological step Is faster than the one before Watching the neighbours and the fashion shows To see if we need to know more
Desparate to be one step ahead Loving to be followed, but still needing to be led
So keep up the pace and keep in line You're either in the race or you're left behind You may feel part of society but the truth is more sublime I said “Stop! Take a look around you” But you never had the time (x3)
So busy picking holes in our skin That stretches tight to keep us all in
When what we thought were eternal friends Have dissappeared from the scene Or changed their habits to fit themselves We begin to see what it means To be choosing something outside the rules That no one sets, but we follow Demanding leaders and food for thought And it's getting harder to swallow
Meanwhile the police and the tax demands Are coming in harder than ever We're raising our fists, but we're not joining hands For fear of being seen together With people in the same mentality But differently aligned We got straight-edge, hardcore, this core, that core Too many dividing lines
Individual personal choices Set examples, but don't create laws We are not all the same as each other But the difference it ain't much at all So do what you like, but let me do the same And maybe we'll do it together one day! Do what you like, but let me do the same And maybe we'll do it together one day! One day, one day We'll do it one day soon!
With detailed precision Nothing omitted Made the incision Cut to what fitted None of the trends
None of the friends of the packaging crew Who seels of the image of who buys who None of it fits On the shelf it sits What the rest of us have Is being sold with a laugh By the media men In some hope for a trend
And when their ends meet The next pose on a street Will be the new complete set of rules Sold by liars and bought by fools
When the clothe gets thin The shoes begin To show your feet How far can you walk? To the billboard talk At the side of the street?
When the radio times Set the rate of decline To a bastardised beat Does your sun still shine On the neon signs At the side of the side Of the side of the side Of the street?
Make the incision It's an easy decision Rejecting the gods of consumer religion Fashion and popstars Setting the trends
Pulling the strings are the media men Pulling the strings, pulling the strings Are the media men
I just ate and I heard the change rattle in your tin I point my eyes on distant blurred horizon me for charity
Or coffee make the day go faster - faster Forty days, forty nights, forty currency exchanges
This is my corner, said the Bag Lady This is my bed, said the Bag Lady This is my wardrobe This is my larder This is my blood donor card
And you can keep all your opinions As long as you let me keep mine
Some of us want some justice Some of us want some dignity Me I want to be left alone From people pretending they want to be me
This is my can, said the Bag Lady This is my hand, said the Bag Lady This is my living, So what are you (x2) So what are you giving?
Closed off he took her by the hand and coughed To cover an understanding loss Perhaps this stake could be put across Without saying whether it was good or not Decided? Hardly! Couldn't give a toss Played up to a crowd like Jonathan Ross Or some such personality deceit But left the situation with something more complete
That scared the hell for its obvious showing Of a well inside full of deeper knowing That said “That was all worng” Reversed the role from weak to strong Decided to whom he really belonged And later felt the pain it caused Like a victory without the war Incomplete and nothing more
That selfish - what did he do it for? What did he do it for?
Taking time out to stay aloof Had made the problem twice as bad With a hatred of the actual truth He cut the little bond they had
Don't take anyone for granted Every first impression slained Next one came as a surprise And opened up some guilty eyes Take a sip from each other's cup Then find a common one to fill And if it tasted good fill it up And if it dosen't let it spill
We went up to the buliding site Saw the bricks and the concrete piles And watched them all working Building muscles and no-one smiled We stood around and watched them Staring back in complete contempt I'm building a building Signed his name in the wet cement
We walked throught the cemetary Social tombstones in black and grey Someone had a bunch of flowers Talking sentiments felt O.K. We stood in the shadows Feeling it was that time of day When everything gloomy Hits the light as it fades away
We came to conclusions Knew that life was a paradox So many illusions Kept alive til the old ones dropped Demolishing lifestyles Building up all the tower blocks If life is so sacred Why spend it all in a man-made box?
We stared at the empty shells Passed a smile and then cried alot While all this was passing by No one stopped to see what they've got They took it for granted Used the space for a parking lot We'll kick off the real world Allocating the beauty spots Industrial death camps Man made something and then forgot Knew what it should look like Trod on nature and said “Well, why not?”
But you cannot replace it Just take a photo and watch it rot And bury the feeling Til no-one knows what it really meant Got caught in a landslide And left a name in the wet cement
Please don't let me see So many problems and disharmony Without knowing the reason Without knowing the facts And knowing that knowing can be hard to desire When the opposite says “relax”
Please don't let me see So much peace and harmony That I forget to use my eyes Be aware of any shadows behind the light Circular vision and the need to know One says lets go everywhere, the other one sets the sights
Please don't let me view Through so many windows I can't see through Every depth has a surface tension Spreading the ripples in all directions Making waves can be saying goodbye But it's also saying here's the reason why
Please don't let me see what I've seen before Without noticing the range of change Please don't let me see without looking For nothing will ever be strange Please don't let me see the viewpoint Without knowing what the background is Please don't let me see the framework Til I've seen if the picture fits
We woke up, didn't feel like sleeping We spoke up, didn't feel like keeping The silence that hold us apart so much As we struggle to find the human touch And a natural urge of discovery Checking out what we weren't allowed to see Looking around the reality factory
Growling as I smile and stare from the other side of the street Is it the speed I'm walking at or the shoes upon my feet? I couldn't afford the baseball boots, that's not the game I play And if you'd rather hang about I won't get in your way
If the words you backhand to your friend were meant for me to hear I'll show you a better way to spend your breath over a beer Or a coffee. Come on mutant-head! Let's drop the social games Call it a bluff, call it enough, quit calling each other names
There's hardly any difference in the nature of the threat Some like to be remembered by the reaction they can get Others need security in a certain social set But both are too aware of what they still yet have to get
Is no one ever satisfied with being what they are? If you show me all your barbed wire, I'll only show you scars
But tell me where you got it from and what it costs in friends And I'll start to get a picture of a person not a trend Ignorance and affinity to outside influence Rejects the inner feeling at anyone's expense
What provoked attack was the nature of defence The weak are strong in knowing that such strength is all pretence
So while you're staring at me I'll be grinning back at you At various intensities, we'll both know that it's true That what each other represents is an image we've been fed7 If I'm a fucking waste of space than you're a mutant head So let's discuss these attitudes and find some common ground Just doing that is ground enough to exorcise the sound Of insults, sights of malice, inbred scorn and ignorance Once beyond the posing we can find the relevance
Invisible people with invisible hands Holding very obvious collection cans Anonymous people with anonymous jobs Hurry past for fear of being late for the bus
Both will say it's not the way I intended to be Knowing that the other guy has all he could need The homeless have got all the time and all of it to share The workers have got all the cash and none of it to spare
Invisible people with invisible feet Taxi cab potential knowing every street Anonymous people with anonymous cars Rolling up the windows as they drive on past
If these were all your relatives then which one would you feed? Would the power you get from money disappear if it was free? Isn't it therefore obvious that in this society There's poverty and hunger due to other people's greed, other people's greed
Invisible people from invisible homes Lost the job, their rent went up out on their own Anonymous people with anonymous lives Reliant on superiors to keep them alive
Cos when it comes right down to it the structure is the same Control requires acceptance that you have to play the game The power of money trickles down decreasing as it goes And out there in the rain it would be used on food and clothes
But social guilt the barrier to giving what is gained To those who have less of it, cuts the last link in the chain Invisibility comes from being constantly in view Ignorance is the passive stance of saying it can't be true - it can't be true
Reality shapes itself around perceptions of the self Until we really need it we refuse to offer help The state that creates homelessness thrives on this attitude Until we smash these limitations and take a wider view
It's a fine line with drops on either side Instant reactions: being undecided Would lose a balance unrecognised Don't leave me alone! Don't touch me!
Could just as love those he despised Or vice-versa - a social supply Of any extreme you could need to arrive Of points unchartred part through fear Don't touch me! Part through reliance on getting this near Don't leave me alone!
Having regular good times - good times - usually late - usually late Passing through the uncertain state Through the flinch reactive zone Where no-one stands completly alone Where togetherness tenses Just like talking over fences (x2)
Ignoring the barrier but keeping it there In case the candle starts to flare Too brightly for the eye to see So much at once - O.K. hold it there Don't leave me alone! Don't touch me! (x3)
In the shops and supermarket chains The checkouts play that song again The notes ring in, ring out the change Laughing all the way to the stock exchange
The music keeps us happy as we choose The products that we can't afford to use The tokens on the packets, the percentages that drop The ringing and the singing from the ceiling never stops
Buy the product and be free! Live a life of luxury! And it says so on T.V. Every quarter of an hour
Consuming all the facts Makes you feel you can relax Comes neatly wrapped in packs With ingredients on the back So when you're sick from plastic snacks You'll know precisely why
While you uphold the megastores By paying what you can't afford The man who runs the shop next door Remembers how it was before When personality meant something And costumers would laugh with him They'd smile or nod as they came in And adverts didn't mean a thing
But now the supermarket chains Are around your neck and purse They sell the products to the strain Of some long-forgotten dirge Just loud enough to wash away The headaches of outside Another shopping paradise Where god is on your side
They channel mediocrity As life's essential quality You're buying two to get one free It's some thing that you'll never need But greed and curiosity Make you consume and let them feed
Why life appears to be a series of ups and downs? I'll never know And I've a feeling that if I find out then everything will turn to stone The lifeless boring routine block of all things neither good nor bad To break that rock and destabilise is risky but I'll take that chance I'll take that chance, I'll take it
Just to know that every up and down must balance out somehow And there's a smile to end a conversation that was full of frowns And here's a major chord to lift the minors up and dance around And if the song seems far to long then tune in to another sound Another sound, like this one
Of course the opposite is true the rain must sometimes hide the sun And you can't escape the feeling that there's more to life than having fun But it's better to go crazy and just break into a run Than to grow old always being told how everything should be done
So take the path of most resistance and feel good when you arrive The other one is straight downhill and never asks you 'why?' Experience the reap and sow, feel the strenghts of high and low Who can dictate how far to go? There are no limits set. But let's go! Oh let's go! Let's go!
The last time was forgotten in remembrance of the first We carried on in ignorance not knowing it was worse And all the sinking standards were related to the past So when the end came up again we really had a blast!
We counting on his memory And not counting too fast Cos everything's still happening So I guess it's gonna last! It's gonna last! (x2)
It's easier to minimalise the present point of view Cos memories desensitise the bad things we go through But when all that was happening we remembered just the same So presently we come to see that for rainbows you need rain
How much do you want? How much do you need? How wide is the gap between possession and greed?
Anyone in particular thinks in terms of how much more he needs to earn To afford the dubious luxury of being able to boast that he could do it free But it all takes a very long time indeed to reach the achievements set By the time he possesses all the things that he wants he'll have forgotten what he set out to get
How much is enough? Do you need a bit more? How wide is the gap between now and before?
There's not much difference in the way he lives And the empty satisfaction that possession gives
Storing it all for a sense of success when he's got time to look back if there is any time left Cos it all takes a very long time indeed to amass all the needs to be met Unless you consider that all that you really need Is something to eat Is something to breathe Something to there when you leane Is something to drink Is something to say Something that says “I went this way”
Everything we do on a personal scale Taking 'we' to mean everyone who ever existed Is the basis for everything wrong in this world And of course everything are right as well But the list of wrongs that offend the soul Like the chance of being killed before we get old Is far far longer than the list of right, yeah
Falling in love won't stop the war (x3) But hating other people might start some more
You blame the politicians For making all the wrong decisions Which are just the same as ours But we haven't got that power That enforced domination So we take out our frustration On the weaker opposition Reinforce our egotism In our smale scale wars On the disco floors Against the man next door
Falling in love won't stop the war (x3) But hating other people might start some more
You can blame the politicians - Small scale wars You blame the television - Small scale wars You can blame your education - Small scale wars Cost of living and inflation - Small scale wars
But the basis for everything wrong in this world Is the way that people behave When you scorn the system but fight each other You're behaving exactly the same If you thought a bit more before starting the war Then maybe the structure would change Change! Sooner or later
Falling in love won't stop the war (x3) But hating other people might start some more Falling in love won't stop the war (x2) But hating other people might start some more
Granny is starting to look pretty costly At anywhere up to £500 a year So even though she is capable, happy and lovely Its out of the house cos it won't be so dear
And into the poll-tax-free state-run environment Waiting for death in a small cosy room We can visit her then and she'll make lots of friends They'll be queuing for places so we'd better book soon
Charlie is eighteen there's no point in waiting Forget all that learning and get a job fast And a flat of your own cos the money's all blown The family unit's a thing of the past
Well then my darling you'd better start working Cos husbands are meant to pay tax for their wives You could be an inspector or a poll tax collector The only job open are the ones we despise
And the baby is due, maybe we should consider Abortion, adoption or changing our name Cos for each extra head there's a mouth to be fed And the poll tax eats more than we've managed to save
By the year 1999 all these old friends of mine Will be in prison or gone far away For the tax's evasion, unable to pay them Or just for the wanting of somewhere to stay Of somewhere to stay (x2)
With Thatcher replacing the tiles on our roof With demands for more money than we've ever got We'll look back and wish we'd known more and resisted The poll tax Student loans More cuts in benefits All got together (x2) All got together and said fuck the lot of it! Fuck the lot of it!
I heard the notes all fade away Leaving memorial stones Yesterday's thoughts have come to stay Until they decompose A picture paints a thousand words With nothing much to say What last night seemed had to be heard Is left unsaid today
So when you said you understood I couldn't understand I was looking at an empty beach As you saw all the grains of sand I was counting views from windows When you looked in from outside The light was blurred and distant And several cities wide
So I turn up the volume To hear the notes so dim You said you couldn't hear it So I asked you to come in Then you held up a mirror And I saw my face congeal I was thin and getting thinner And I dreamt for real ==== Talk Is Cheap ====
Talk is cheap and its easy to shout If we spent all our time working things out Would it change anything? Words are cheap and anyone can sing So let's sing a song about all the wrongs Complaining and straining This is where it belongs Or so some one said It must've been something I read But while I was reading The ethics lay bleeding
Stab the back of the hand that feeds you We fall apart in the 'basic human nature' excuse It's the heart of the gig that bleeds From the endless soul self-abuse Tied to the bar in the hope of reviews From the obvious to the obtuse The critics who sound so profound About the mythical 'new underground'
But talk is cheap The words of wisdom put you to sleep And you don't even read the cuttings you keep Just following trends The trail never ends When all the solutions are just round the bend You're upholding ideas that you'd never defend In the endless search you cannot comprehend That there's nothing that wonderful In worshipping trivial Ego material Cos music sells papers Who sell you the feeling As if it was missing
Yeah really, talk is cheap Til you put it in print Sing as you read The words all fit Now we're learning the words Obscure or absurd It makes no difference It never gets heard No it never gets 'in' But you really want to win When there's nothing to be You say 'look at me!' And it works! Yes it works! Cos talk is cheap But shouting is free!
Lots of them You know there's lots of them There's reasons Everyday changes my mind like the seasons I'm asking for answers I'm looking in mirrors Ripples in rivers Face just drifting away, away
Where's the reasoning? Yes and no are neither good enough Gimme some of that, gimme some of that, gimme some of that, spontaneity stuff
Blink before you think too hard Saw your smile in a passing car
Borrowed your pen I wanna write like you do again and again and again and again Riots in the uniform of peace Coupla big ones up your sleeve
Ten to nine and it's shut down the factory Pull up the floorboards and build a bonfire Having a party in your head Sniff this greezer! And go to bed!
Turned off the light Stayed up all night Blown to bits! Shrivelled up opened out and exploded Where he usually sits
Go to it youth Discover the truth Don't bottle it up Cos it's 99% proof
No no it's not how old you are Not the blushing brides and the propped up bar After the bells have rung And the next perspective has begun
Not the corner of some foreign field Not the name engraved on stainless steel Not the thank you note for inventing the wheel But an innocence dressed in knowing too much Never scared to theorise but half scared to touch But rejecting the world that made it such
Oh to be as youthful as I am Oh to be as manic as you are Oh to be as worried in our happiness But never will we be so near Yet look so far Be so near Yet look so far (x2)
Beyond the social attitudes That narrow the path and distort the view Complacency defies energy And the other way round
We grow as fast as time is slow (x3) Enough to keep our head to the ground For youthfulness is a louder sound Than age - that turning of the page - can make A forced resemblance of getting old Left the majority feeling cold Forgot that energy never gets old We grow with what we'll always know And feel the sense of experience Experience - Youth, youth (x2) Experience - Youth
If animals are animals And animals have brains We are no more than cannibals Who refuse to feel the pain
The meat you eat is wrapped up neat You didn't see it bleed… And what you kill does not fulfil Your dietary needs
Take a look from this direction And save yourself the indigestion Our guts are geared to vegatation And it's healthier as well
Open your eyes and face the facts Meat cost a lot, it gives you heart attacks A now lot of people think (wrongly) vegetation lacks In vitamin B12… vitamin B12… If you really think that's gonna make you ill Then buy a bottle of vitamin pills!
You could be more healthy Maybe it doesn't really bother you But can your conscience bear the strain Of all the pain that makes your food?
You could feed a lot of needy people With the grain they feed to cows But can you comprehend these end results Or can you not allow Yourself to break the old tradition? False conception of nutrition
Well they all eat meat on the television Except those little starving children Would you ever eat the meat From another humain being? Flesh and blood Is animal Is you and me Animal is suffering
Someone phoned and said “hello?” And for about, well hum, I dunno A few split seconds I thought “Oh no” “I know that voice”… so I said real slow “Uh yes?” Who could it be?
Of course it turned out There was no room for doubt It was you all along It's just that your voice Was coverded in noise That didn't belong
You said “Don't mention my name I got something to say. The police came around About ten minutes ago They got my address book And you aught to know, They we're asking weird questions About what I believe And reading my fanzines And your record sleeves.”
I said “Get off the phone I don't think we're alone, I keep hearing these noises They're tapping my phone. They're searching your house And now they'll search mine, They'll pull us all in If they get enough time. If you've done nothing wrong They'll make up a crime, They'll say you're unbalanced Cos you went out of line. There's no freedom to move Unless it's forward or back And you can't speak your mind Cos your phone's being tapped. But we know all these things So we have to react. They're not defending our freedom It's blatent attack, They take all our freedom And give nothing back. They take all our freedom ???”
A zillion miles into the space Is a very very very big telescopic lens Someone labelled 'alien' is looking at this place Checking out experimental women and men
Several million years ago They planted human beings on a planet called earth And Sent a few biologists to make sure we would grow Who ended up in Spielberg films, or crucified, or worse
Lost and lost of time went past Til what we know as 'recently' was when it all went wrong Technology ran the human race The humans finished last They were spending less on medicine and more and more on bombs
The layers in the atmosphere were open wide And no-one out in outer space liked what they saw inside Animals in slavery where forests used to be Starving people eating hamburgers and catching hearth disease
What to do with the toxic waste? The ocean floor is filling up and those drums rust away “We could try dumping all this rubbish in outer space” But the aliens were listening to everything we say
A zillion miles into outer space Is a very very very big telescopic lens And when an alien experiment starts messing up the place It is left to self-destruction, clear the mess and start again Clear the mess! Start again! Experiment earth (x2) Clear the mess! Start again!
You have to use your imagination To get across the situation You can simplify or overstate To make it easier to relate You can go right over the top With a list of things you want to stop Or you can concentrate on just one wrong And make it easier to sing along
But if you say “I don't like this” (Or that or the other in a big long list) Then people write you off as a pessimist Providing no alternatives Or if you decide to simplify And use four-letter words and spit in the sky Then they'll chant the slogans and won't even try To understand the reasons why
So perhaps the only way to make clear The views you'd like everyone to hear Is by taking a piece of everyday life And looking at it closer in a different light Let's take an example - the way we eat Sat at the table and it's all so neat Now you can understand that cos that's 'how it's done' And it's probably happened to everyone
Having caught the attention you now decide How far to push your thoughts outside There's loads of angles, like dining out The hunger of the old man whose cash ran out The money made by corporations Selling bombs not food to starving nations You see there's a world-wide scope of affiliations Depending how far you wanna stretch imaginations
Insert a little optimism now and then Before complaining becomes a trend Repetition defeats the point in the end It numbs imagination til it can't comprehend So walk the line between humour and gloom Amongst the debris there's just enough room To keep your mentality going strong And create some ultimate protest songs
As the Charity Department at the Treasury Dispenses licenses so you can do one too The etheopians are running out of weaponry So their leaders stock it up instead of food And charity begins at home So get out on the streets And help the refugees
And the manager of E.M.I. technology Seems reluctant to discuss his business deals Cos the weapon sales are paying for his meals He'll go to withering heights To keep it out of sight
Profit! Weaponry doesn't feed refugees It's a hit! McCartney's saying please on T.V.'s royalties to feed the world with guns
Wembley Stadium forever on the video And a million spent to raise that sixty more Nothing ever quite as big as this before And it broke our hearts As it topped the charts
But when the overkill exploited the reality We forgot the facts and revelled in the noise We didn't see that while we had the voice Companies and laws were pulling vocal chords
If the western world was less obsessed with proprety And the need to keep it safe with threats of war Then the third world wouldn't need a war economy That we're supplying at a cost they can't afford So we buy up all their crops and grain And sell it back again When there ain't no rain And have a big campaign Using famous names And as the penny drops Into the Oxfam box Take off the V.A.T. Then call it charity
And the public think the government is wonderful For promoting our assistance to the poor But their profits are a whole lot more They create the need to feed the refugees And delegate the guilty feeling to the public eye Via pictures of starvation on T.V. And get the public conscience back out on the streets With the empty tins And little flags on pins Lets call it charity (x2) Make it pay!
I wake up every morning and think, “today's the day I That takes this repetition and throws it all away” I stumble to the toilet then the kitchen for some food I cannot do without it but it's what I always do
Here's the next door neighbour discarding his T.V. No more life in two dimensions Less then two weeks later his face is like a screen And now he's got a bigger one - Habit retention
It's a habit Well I had it And then I lost it And now I want it back again
Manning the machinery and dreaming of the day He'll get to see some scenery and have a holiday And now he's won the lottery, he'll never work again Unless of course they ask him back, the cycle never ends
It's a habit Well I had it And then I lost it And now I want it back again
There's people out there travelling so fast it's just insane Always rushing to get back there Home is where the car is parked and then it's off again The fear of immobility? But you're just sat there!
I want to throw it all away (x4) And now I want it back again Now he wants it back again You can't have it back again, no no no
Habit is invisible until it falls apart Left clutching for security and groping in the dark What do we relying on so much that we get bored With having it, but losing it will make us need it more? I'm gonna throw it all away I'm gonna do something today Something that I haven't done before, it Could be almost anything I don't want to make a habit of it
It's a habit Well I had it And then I lost it And now I want it back again
==== Phone In Sick ==== Queuing up for jobs that we don't want & demean us Wanna be a shop assistant? Lavatory cleaner? Spent a bomb on uniforms to justify low wages Qualify by turning up and having smiley faces By the way your appearance isn't what we call supportive Put your image up for sale, the corporation bought it Just do what we tell you to and keep the job forever At least until we sack you cos computers do it better
Woke up with a job one day and didn't wanna work no more Get a life before it's too late Phone in sick of it all (x2)
When the only thing that jobs entail is endless repetion Stacking up & pulling down & making no decisions It's time to re-evaluate your actual position How fast does an opportunity become a prison? All our creativity is waiting to be used If it's not what you're working with, find better things to do Work & play should be combined together, make it fun! Don't waste your life regretting it, it's, it's the only one Yeah! Yeah!
Woke up with a job one day and didn't wanna work no more Get a life before it's too late Phone in sick of it all Phone in sick of it
I didn't go to work today I don't think I'll go in tomorrow No way!
Phone in Sick of it all - Sick of it all (x3) Phone in sick of it
Pubtime: men sat around the table Talking about, but equally unable To talk to women: hard to relate When all linked up to potential mates Male style - owzitgoin? - great! - Delinquency… the more pissed you seem The better the realtion, the easier the dream
For about half an hour and then Closing time, drifting off again With the lights & the mind gone dim Overheard? It wasn't me You overheard, no it couldn't have been Overheard? It wasn't me, it was him! It was him! It was him!
Excusing the fundamental abuse of women Seen as weaker by tradition And the overuse of stereotypes - Both women & men It was like this before So it happens again It used to happen next door But it's so “us & them” these days… What could I say?
Not daring to argue, playing the game Trying to laugh but feeling ashamed When I did, I think you felt the same Sat round the table keeping the lid Down tight, unable to look into their eyes And say “Right! I've had enough of your sexist shite!”
Cos you make a quick exit or you get a fight We're so afraid of not making friends With what we laughingly call “our fellow men” That we excuse our silence and waste our minds By saying nothing that betrays the lie And explodes the myth That women get on with it and men get pissed Women get on with it and men get pissed
I had to guess Whether happiness Was having more Or needing less I couldn't decide Then I got depressed
Then I had to guess Whether being depressed Was needing more Or having less I couldn't decide So I gave it a rest
Then I had to guess Whether giving it a rest Was making it worse Or keeping it best I couldn't decide So I got undressed Put my head on the pillow And thought “What a mess”
We could go on forever Searching like this For answers to questions That do not exist
When I woke in the morning There was something amiss What state was I in Before writing all this? I was happy! That's it! Before I started to guess About the levels of feeling That run through my head
It's best to just do things And see how it goes For no-one can tell you What nobody knows
Can't stop this constant nod Just met two peas from the nextdoor pod Seems like making a brand new friend But all this shaking never ends
Invitations to join in things I haven't done since seventeen Photos from places I still haven't been Postponing & phoning faces unseen
Slightly nervous… Thinking backwards… Up & over it!
Someone else's experience Someone else is over the fence No more blank comparison sketch No more false impressions left
Had to go… Things to do, you know how it is… It went from this to further over and back again Always make it back again Further over and back again Always make it back again (x2)
Back again Didn't you & me met in somewhere before - Back again Haven't we met somewhere nextdoor - Back again Haven't I seen your face before
When 'the people's revolution Is the stuff of science fiction Then the sense of evolution is deranged Into thinking your solution Is the easy contradiction To the way you had the problem re-arranged Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
No! No! No! No! No! - I don't think so! (x2) No! No! No! No! No!
It's obvious to me But can't you blinkered visionaries All comprehend how unrealistic it must be? To alter all the problems Til the facts are all forgotten And solutions blowout on the morning breeze Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
No! No! No! No! No! - I don't think so! (x2) No! No! No! No! No! - Where's your revolution now? No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No!
When will you come to realise The more you tend to theorise The actuality of life recedes? And the daily devastation - Maybe daily revelation - Is forgotten in the future you conceive
So any people's revolution Is not down to your conclusions Concerning how we change to suit your needs For if everyone is what they are Change can only go as far As people want to change their destiny
No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! - I don't think so! (x2) No! No! No! No! No! - Where's your revolution now? No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No!
I used to smile at the camera But now it,s on every corner And everyone is staring Ignorant or tired or caring Or just completely used to feeling Watched all the time Or holding back a sense of freedom That comes out late at night
It's out of control
Orwell's future science fiction Ended up a near prediction Smug the rebel's lonely chorus 'We saw it before it saw us' Flick the page to a few years later The novelty is out of date - a Problem redefined has gone Now we're told it's what we wanted
It's out of control (x3)
Now everyone's on camera And everyone's an actor Here's a random factor Someone took away the screen E-motion pictures in 3-D Beyond control the human being Is freer than the one projected
Being watched to keep control Of 'crime' - A buzzword has its hold Another such is 'you' - it makes us Follow where the message takes us Either down the path to silence Where no-one says more than they're told Or to the realisation Our containment needs permission
Our acceptance paves the way That makes it worse when we get old Grandad had so much to say But all his anger had gone cold
Tried & tested, failed suppressed Then new technology invested Here's the future human being Silent, nervous, dead or screaming
No! It's out of control! No! No! It's out of control! (x7)
Well they said it couldn't be done But they always had it in mind A picture machine! Like a radio But a three-dimensional kind Seeing what words could only say Extending the views so far away So much to see, so much to show Let's see how far this thing can go
What's on T.V.? (x4)
Well they said it shouldn't be done But they always had it in mind Charging a fee for the quality And a bigger one to advertise Too many viewpoints go unheard When money talks so undisturbed Here's the market - Fill the blanks For exploitation we say thanks
What's on T.V.? - Fuck you! (x2) What's on T.V.? (x2)
Well they said it couldn't be done But they plugged into our minds A one-way delivery feeding tube Of reality simplified Now our thoughts are in mass production Our nerves de-densitized This apex of invention Has replaced our ears & eyes
Well I'd rather sing songs about nature Being happy or having fun But I asked at the desk when I got here And they said it couldn't be done
Too much T.V.! (x4)
More at ease with songs against T.V. That's something we all know about And we'd rather get off on the hatred Than imagine the living without I been watching too much telly Almost turned my brain to jelly Now I'm playing my cassettes Get back to the music before you forget! Before you forget! (x4)
Turn it off!
Sat round a table, “What do you do?” I put my neuroses on public view Everyone sat round something to say But contracting it all into “Have a nice day?” Oh! - When I said “Well no not really” Oh! - Aiming to let go of a lonely feeling
I sensed a tension unexpected Normal question got redirected Didn't it? You know I was taught That's what friends are really for
This is a cry for communication This is a sample of alienation
So I looked up from starting what may never ends To see you looking for another friend Are all your acquaintances so happy inside Simplistic answers are the only replies You get? And so it goes on If everyone's happy then what could be wrong?
Needing to know that surrounded by plastic Transient values & rapid-fire thrills Internal release need not be so drastic Create perceptions that none of us feel, fell, none of us feel
This is a cry for communication This is a sample of alienation
After the gig and keen to share The end result of feeling aware But it's autographs that you want me to sign I write my name but it's not even mine…
It's yours, hang it up on your wall I hope you get over it, do a bit more Cos playing the game is the game itself Where all you get told is all you can tell
Labels define, and their opposition Defines as well, puts you in a position Label it 'alternative', what does it mean? A token cog in the music machine
It's always easier to follow the leader Lowest common denominator All dressed up as a motivator Fuck the system? Yeah, see you later! See you later!
Fuck the system! Time four Seems like we heard it all before Several years back we all got a clue Resistance fed what we said we'd do
Now several years on it's like it all belongs To the history books - well that's how it looks The regeneration of the blank generation Forgetfulness, that's all it took
It's always easier to follow the leader Lowest common denominator All dressed up as a motivator Fuck the system? Yeah, see you later! Yeah, see you later!
A regeneration of the blank generation (x3) Regeneration of the blank generation
Rebellion into fashion And fashion creates names To be signed on bits of paper It's all part of the game A continuance of the process All you want is autographs Where has all the meaning gone? Why do I have to ask?
==== Back To Zero ==== Had a friend he would spend all his time going mad You never heard more absurd, his new versions of 'crazy horses' Finger to the head, everybody said he was cracked And he was out there, but somehow he always came back Back to zero Then he got put away up to the hospital Back to zero They let him out - Now he's got nothing to say
The lesson learnt was to never return to that place Creating fear with control of your character on prescription Now he smiles like his files are being held to his face If he did resist a bit it wouldn't fit and there he goes again Back to zero He plays it safe but feels deranged Back to zero Just waiting for the call - We're taking all you know away
They call you mad, feed you drugs, say you're cured and you're free To keep in line with the threat they can do as they please Scapegoats for the rest of us until we sus it's all you & me In and out of institutions, repetition & exclusion Lies they sell you Make you doubt your sanity But when they tell you You must come back where you've just been You'll have no chance to tell them “No! I'm O.K. now!” Back to zero
“No! I'm O.K. now!” Back to zero (x3) (x2) “No! I'm O.K. now!”
Your poison is my antidote What keeps you down keeps me afloat Perceiving, as you believe in it That media shapes were never meant to fit The holes you create to fit them in But you adjust and the fiction wins, again
The pictures from the T.V. screen Contain a lot more then what it really seems But to be there seeing it all for real Is it too much to contemplate? Is it too much to feel?
Cast the image, it is all, until it disappears To be instantly replaced
What do we do with the information? Who selects your choice of viewing? Why don't we lose the hesitation That keeps us looking instead of doing?
The first thing to do and now not later Quit the position of mere spectator Be your own motivator Look to the inside, be the creator Now not later!
Not for others to blindly follow - See how the influence works - But to give you a space that isn't so hollow Where no-one but you has the words And the pictures to fit what you're saying From what only you have thought out When the media form your opinion You forget what real life's about
What do we do with the information? Who selects your choice of viewing? Why don't we lose the hesitation That keeps us looking instead of doing?
It's your life, what are you doing? (x3)
Get mad as loud as possible! Lose the instructions, lose control Everyone does it when they're on their own Nobody hears so no image gets blown Every intention scared of the critic It's never enough being called 'pathetic' Sometimes anger starts to invade The outside image we're given to play
Sometimes thoughts can't replace intuition Taking too long reaching no decision Are you creating or folding under? I heard you scream, it sounded like thunder But hollowed out amidst the fashion All the scorn without the passion Here's the original, here's the reaction All laid out - Smug satisfaction
No! It's all pre-arranged Someone did it once so we do it again Routine monotony kills us all So lets get unpredictable!
Yah!
I hear the sound of bells & sirens Wired alarmed & face to face Intruded in exclusion zone Looking for a sleeping place Locks & clocks & iron bars Barking dogs, securicars Electric lights & concrete grass Getting scared to even ask
Somewhere to go - Without being arrested Somewhere to go - Without being scared Somewhere to go - Without being questioned Somewhere to go - Where somebody cares
Put on screen to serve the public Here's the problem now drop the subject Asked some questions unrequested Next day quietly arrested A token trials to stop the rumours Hordes of desperate non-consumers In a rush to beat the systematic Silencing of their existence
Somewhere to go - Without being arrested Somewhere to go - Without being scared Somewhere to go - Without being questioned Somewhere to go - Where somebody cares
And they bought in all their cameras And they made a film about us About my friends and all their problems And now we're on the television
They made a documentary Showed it late night on T.V. Raising audience figures For the regular advertisers The public conscience shivered Then turned the T.V. over This is homelessness delivered Too close to home
Somewhere to go - Without being arrested Somewhere to go - Without being scared Somewhere to go - Without being questioned Somewhere to go - Where somebody cares Somewhere to go - Somewhere to go (x4)
If we're gonna say O.K. To submission at the border Who if anyone will say “I don't believe in law & order”? All the thoughts of alienation Feeling guilt through association Appearance altered fit the plan Making it as easy as we can
All you got is regulation All I got is inspiration All I get is your resistance I just wanna shrink the distance
Welcome? Hardly - Face the flag Total strangers rape my bag I had no room to pack the bomb Where do you think I'm coming from? Oh! Travel broadens the mind And here's the threat to human kind If you go so far you leave behind All the notions in your mind
All you got is regulation All I got is inspiration All I get is your resistance I just wanna shrink the distance
Freedom comes in losing stability So-called 'forced' to use your ability To cope with unknown situations Soon destroys the notion of nations
But I just want to see the planet before I die How can it be so hard to cross this borderline Between what's yours - between what's yours - and what is mine? I just want to see the planet Before I die
Seperate lands it's all possession Guarded with some warped obsession Of control - You wanna come in? It all depends on where you've been I'm sick of doing what I'm told Stay at home, grow up, feel old Feeling young is not quite knowing - Until you've gone - Just where you're going
All you got is regulation All I got is inspiration All I get is your resistance I just wanna shrink the distance
If I want a bargain, I avoid the high street shops I check the local papers to see who needs what I've got And who has what I can't afford when I can't afford a lot Someone else in this position, O.K. let's do a swap!
Will swap. What have you got? Ain't got no money - Don't own it, can't loan it Ain't got no credit - Won't get it, yeah, forget it Will swap this poverty for all the things I need
Things you've never seen before are left outside to rot There's food & furniture in skips and most are still unlocked Surplus raw materials are shelves & building blocks If you don't want it, someone will, why not do a swap?
Will swap. What have you got? Ain't got no money - Don't own it, can't loan it Ain't got no credit - Won't get it, yeah, forget it Will swap this property for all I really need
Will swap. Homelessness for squats Hunger for surplus tons of food Anger for a reason, so few have got so much With so many hopelessly demanding “Will do anything” - “Anything will do”
So here's the barter syster on the pages at the back Will swap commercial interest for a rummage in your sack Will swap your c.c.t.v. for an unrecorded chat We'll swap a few priorities and watch the wall street crash
Will swap. What have you got? Ain't got no money - Don't own it, can't loan it Ain't got no credit - Won't get it, yeah, forget it Will swap this poverty for all I really need
Everyone gets a seat, no-one gets left out The desire to equalise is starting to numb us out Blunting individuals looking far too wide Beyond the need to understand that every single mind Must know its own reflection, not one that's been supplied With over-regulation we've nothing to decide Nothing to decide
Without the risk of failure we've nothing to achieve But when failure is the basis on which a brand new moral theme Is set from past conceptions of an old morality How far does doctrination make it seem like a repeat?
Invisible consensus Value added facts Standars shift without warning Something started to crack
Hear it on the radio, see it on the screen Read it in a paper, they tell me what it means In terms of having heard it somewhere else before But the media self-appointed, are laying down new laws
To give us more illusions and this one, like disease Has spread so well we find it hard to disbelieve
Political correctness? Check the words out one by one After years of media politics the first one is no fun 'Correctness' reeks of classrooms, being taught to toe the line So don't tell me it's natural or previously in our minds
Anyone with a conscience Knows what is right or wrong They're pushing what cannot be bought A reason to belong (x3) A reason
P.C. is just a label not a statement of I.D. Not a passport to be someone of some higher quality When something says it for us and repeats it enough times We believe we hear a chorus of other people's minds
Then we all become self-conscious And lose the basic need Of expressing our opinions It's the root of being free
It's only by discussion of a difference that it's known Learning by discerning who we meet and where we go No-one sets morality; what you are is all your own! P.C. obscures reality, what you reap is what you sow!
What you reap Is what you sow!
Tremendous! Fab! The critics cried As unpopular culture was opened wide To show the world what wasn't hidden But up til then had been forbidden With more open eyes than open minds The critics searched intent to find The latest act on the borderline Between being coarse & showing fine An image brought to public view That spurned the many to proclaim the few Processed such that any threat Was shown to be simple to forget
And for that falsehood,people flocked To be seen to relishing what they'd mocked Safe now the threat was public domain All the old rebellion shown to be safe Radical chic for the strong gone weak Handed on a plate what they were too scared to seek
Dressed in non-conformity, the people took the hand That seemed to promise freedom… but they couldn't understand
That through the hands of media And all the ways they're feeding it The content becomes less not more Getting the result without knowing the score Music has been raped & shed Of all its power by the images fed Beguiled by smiles presumed to be scorns They bought the product and the cult was formed
Original music is always born But the way its produced can make it look deformed Pity for the rebel who faught so strong To be put in the position where he didn't belong But hoped beyond the vision he'd always had That some kind of good could emerge from the bad
Queuing up for leaflets, 'How to get ahead' Well, one man grumbles next to me “That's the one I never read. But no-one tells me what I need, so it doesn't really bother me.”
Outside someone sweeps the road, I ask “Is it good pay?” “Throw that leaflet in the bin and ask some other day. I do my job to make ends meets, Reasons they don't bother me.”
In the line up by the sign that says 'Wait here until it comes' Everyone's standing in the rain, doing mental sums The fare has just gone up again so the weather doesn't bother them
The bus is late again. The driver smiles, he knows The people who complain at him will thank him when they go “Well, I get paid and they pay me, So it doesn't really bother me.”
A kid walks down the pavement kicking stones & cans His mother slaps him harder to make him understand That “You can try to impress your friends But it doesn't really bother them.”
And his friends are laughing loudly but they're feeling just like him There's always someone bigger who tells you you can't win So they hang around in groups of ten pretending nothing bother them
A man slumped in the corner was talking A to Z Where he'd been and what he'd done and why all his friends were dead “I know I drink too much”, said he “But now it doesn't really bother me.”
Nothing bothered anyone as I wondered “Who am I To be the only person who ever wonders why?” And someone said I was in the way “Does it bother you?”, “No it's O.K.” “Does it really bother you?” “No it's O.K.”
Selling by numbers, hi-tech illusion Look to a future and keep it clean 2000 and one, ends of the century Figuring out the advertising scheme For toilet machinery, paper dispensers, kitchen appliances, razor blades, serial comics without the humour Buy now pay later, pre-arranged
2000 years since whatever the panic was all about Turn on the T.V., see the devout Asking for money so they can help you out
It's almost as if we can stand & watch Til the magic number lets us off somehow
We imagine a new beginning Getting fat after all the thinning Losing so much then suddenly winning Meanwhile obscuring the chaos we live in
Fast rate technology Plastic diversions Wiping our conscience On numerical versions Of a future concieved Too easily believed Via numb repetition in a culture of ease And convenience trash, we're so easy to please Is nobody asking for more than this? Don't wait too long, it won't always exist
2000 and one (x3)
She got a basket She gotta fill it Picking up a can of beans Imagining herself in a movie scene A random fluctuation Background music hesitation Tape chewed up! It's panic station Consumerist disintegration
“I won't buy this! Cos I don't need it I won't buy this! I can't afford it I can't stay in But where's the exit?” Wide awake, it's automatic, panic in the supermarket
She got a ticket But she can't use it Offer ends in twenty minutes No I.D. & needs to prove it Cheque-out full of cheque card carriers Barges through the human barrier “Let me through, I'm in a hurry!” Story detectives in a flurry
“Don't let her out! She hasn't bought it Don't let her shout! Just keep her quiet” What happens now? The price is riot Someone pulls an automatic, panic in the supermarket
She got a bullet With no name on it It was generic It hit her wallet Got compensation A month of credit Someone fixed the tape machine to keep the shoppers in a dream No-one recalled the shooting thing til they put it in a magazine
“You must buy this! You won't believe it! You can't resist! Is how they feed it Just one more thing Top up your basket” Impulse buy on automatic, Panic in the supermarket
In a state of mutual desperation We declare our level of alienation Any silent crowded situation It felt so full of concentration Never looking in that direction Sat on the end of a private section of wood The waiting room conversation Still waiting to break the speculation
And the same thing's happening all over again People taking their solitude out of the rain And into their houses to the same refrain “Have a nice day dear?” “Can't complain.”
Cos the dream of anything ever changing Remains a nightmare of really stating what you feel So you can carry on waiting for someone else to say they understand But it will always go as someone else has planned The capitulating silence gives them the upper hand
There's always someone louder who will tell you what to do There's always some instructions at the front end of the queue And in this mass of silence there's more than just a few Would love to burst out laughing cos they've thought of something new But only if they knew for sure they're not the only one Cos so often the reaction is as if you'd fired a gun The shattering of silence Is so often seen as violence Just goes to show that fear of altered circumstance is rife A fear imposed by those who say that rituals in life Are needed to sustain the draining off of inspiration So no-one ever dare complain about their situation
Imagine what the change could be If what was thought so constantly was said Not kept Locked up In all of our heads Too many people thinking “No-one thinking like this.” “What if no-one else agrees?” “It's too much of a risk.”
A nod & half a glance contain The contents of a superbrain For all we know or he could be insane It's hard to tell cos he looks the same And anyway, he didn't say his name Not that anyone dared to ask
And all of us playing the waiting game In a state of mutual desperation No use saying “Oh! I can't complain.” You want to change the situation Imagine what the change could be If what was thought so constantly was said Not kept locked up inside our heads
One! Two!
Fast technology made a problem And advertised its own solution Buy the latest, speed it all up And drive off into science-fiction
Longing for a new sensation Found one at the intersection Adverts smiling for attention Missed the turning, blew the engine
Bought a new one fuelled the process Link roads linking speed to progress Got there faster, missed the views Lost the meaning, blew a fuse
Bought a new one different shade Of image on the screen displayed In carparks at the service station Home from home, disorientation
Crossed the point of no admission Commuter terminal collapse Someone pull the plug on this one Before the wire runs out & snaps
(Bip! Bip! Get a spare one!)
Get a spare one! It's too late! Half a headline in the paper Someone drove too fast to mention Here comes another edge to go over
Faster! Faster! (x2)
Up to date but running on empty Knew the risk, forgot to check Heard forgotten & repeated Social scrapyard full of wrecks
Here's a new promotion tactic Unplug that & plug in this one He who hesitates is dated And make the most of what we make it
Repeat, consume & undervalue In the style of double bluff You say you don't need it But you can't get enough
Faster! (x12) Fast! STOP! ==== Refugees Go West ====
It's all-channel mindset in western world style between T.V. & work we all roam
While mad politicians cause wars & divisions in places a long way from home Political powercrazy generals on hills are bombing the people they know And making demands, claiming rights over land, til there ain't nowhere to go
“This is religion and so is this too and one of them therefore is wrong.” It's the same old excuse to support fascist views, “You may live here but you don't belong.” Family gathered to see what was left on the borders of what was once home The country next door said, “You're welcome, I'm sure, but the law says you'll soon have to go.”
The phrase 'Ethnic cleansing“ is dressing in words, racist, oppression & death
When the last refugees have come out of the east how far will they have to go west?
The refugees story gets left in a cold as we turn off the T.V. and go Easy to ignore til it's at your front door then it's time to say “Stay!” and not “Go!” Time to say “Stay!” and not “Go!”
They're shifting the blame for the problems Away from the people who made them Pointing the figures & fingers at those who have already found the solutions
The squatters who took themselves in Reducing the homeless and using the homes The travellers who said goodbye to it all, and hello to anyone else on that road
The kids are ramraiding their boredom Reproducing themselves on T.V. With no aims or future before them The future got faster to see
They are the headline writers They are the faces on the screens They are the seekers of status They are the words in a speech
Prepared for the total rejection Of all that they say they can do After the strikes & the backlash The people will want something new But instead of reversing the process And listening out for ideas They'll turn the attention on lifestyles Untouched by their strirring up fear
And divert the anger & protest Away from their actions in actions fictions Denial or contradiction, image forming, status building, powergames, names with titles, mind games Diverting the blame by diverting the problem “Yes, but now look at this situation”
Here we all go, here we all go
Here we all go attacking the minority Same old thing but a different label Pretty soon we'll all be in one or another Dividing the majority is keeping them stable
It's basically a case of replacing the reality of people living out their own variety With misinformation about the state of the nation, being down not to the government but a lack of morality
The only morality they understand is a belief in control and the status quo Anyone successing in escaping these things becomes a target when the fuses blow
Me, I've never squatted nor live on the site But I've seen enough to know what's right I've watched both sides of this lifestyle fence And it's more then politics, it's common sense
Nobody does what they don't want to The state exists to promote itself Given alternatives of what you could do You wouldn't need the state Nor would anybody else! (x2)
I've got friends who are there to the end Sharing past experience, rejecting all the trends Seeing through the everyday and leading their own lives Creating tunes & phrases that help us all survive
I've got friends who chose to settle down Mortgages & babies, getted married, saving bounds So when I get to tell you these friends are all the same You start to get a picture - the shock is in the change
Growing older seperates experience from 'now' What once was one big family is caught up in a row Based on what we used to be, division causing stress Looked upon subjectively it all seems such a mess
Sat in stupid corners thinking we're all alone Not counting friends who went the way we never used to go While they're sat in the same corner, feeling more or less the same How many rules were broken in the lead up to this game?
How much freedom do we need before we give some of it away? Opinions need to loosen up if we really want some change If every boundary we create excludes more than it retains Then old friends are excluded, and you have to think again
Growing skin last washed forgotten when It would be getting rotten but for the rain Solo times zero to shutout the refrain “How come we never got to see you again?”
Not so much trapped but preferring to hide Don't open the door unless you're going outside Living on nothing getting too expensive Turned it inside out and then we lost the friendship
With a mood of defiance and not wanting it Becoming reliant on the fact it exist Searching for something better than this? Throw out the pieces that never would fit
And throw out the jigsaw, you coming for miles - and miles, and miles, and miles
Emptied the bin with a Picked up the phone with a Had a few word with a Wrote it all down with a smile
And time stood still like good times do While bad times hovered in the recent past Talking them over lets you know you can choose Between cutting them dead or letting them last
Yeah! Steady now!
And the choosing is the using of your own self-esteem Did you like it as it was? or has it never really been? Some people want it dirty and others like it clean Denying there's an area thats lying inbetween
Now watching the blind leading the blind Gives you the time to use your mind Plenty of skin to grow back again Plenty of room outside the one you're in
One - Two
We're feeding on facts, we're feeding on fiction Feeding cos we need to eat Supplying our minds with information But half of it is incomplete
They used to wrap chips in newspapers Now they microwave fast food We end up picking at rumours In the hope of a grain of truth
Do you know what you are feeding? Do you know what you are fed?
We say we don't believe all that we read But is anyone reading at all? Or merely feeding on what's being fed In the hope of feeling full?
We all need to be resources Rather than receptacles There's too many lies and rumours To recognise them all
Do you know what you are feeding? Do you know what you are fed? (x2) Do you repeat what is worth repeating? Or store it all inside your head?
Be a source of information Inspire debate, protest and go! Feed on food for thought reaction If no-one feeds it, grow your own! (x3)
You'll never make the charts - charts - if you sing about repression Cos pretending to be in control - in control - is a national obsession Even when the self-control is let loose as aggression - agression “Oh you know he doesn't mean it man”,”It's is natural expression“ “It's is natural expression”
Some say the constant hammering is following the beat And popsongs heard to pass the time will break up the routine In some hazy day pre-radio you'd hear the hammers sing Now they shout above the popsongs, go unnoticed and give in Go unnoticed and give in
It claims to break up the routine, become a part of it - part of hit But no signs of improvement in the way the hammers hit You see the way the workers act when the chains relax a bit Does it indicate their mental state as happy clean and fit? Happy clean and fit?
After daylong happy tunes its prime reaction time Blob out horizontal to the spectacle sublime Replacing conversation space with pleasantries that rhyme Have a good weekend folks, just make sure you're back by nine Just make sure you're back by nine
So when the batteries went flat - flat - and the D.J. went off air The atmosphere in the factory made everyone aware They'd been replacing interaction with dependency on sound So when the popsongs came back on they turned the whole thing down (x2)
I see the rubble alongside the river and shout “It's time we started looking again!” We seen it before, except then it was standing Seen the demolition, hand in hand We watch the cars zoom past Seems like nothing's ever gonna last
Is this change? Or merely destruction? Wait a few months and here's the construction Of another supermarket, as shops close down Redundancy money like a dressing gown - like a dressing gown Barely hiding the naked fear Of being recognised - “I used to work here”
Staring at the rubble was bad enough So we look to the river instead Comparison, no! It couldn't be so! This one flows and the other is dead Comparison, no! It couldn't be so! (x2)
But the swans have gone with the current - moved on And the trees have rotted away The bridge that joined workers and nature Now a viewpoint to view the decay We walk round the city a few times more And the repetition makes us numb Built on a river that keeps the score Of replacable scenery - What was won Is lost - And the cost is rising Pride in the city and its horizons Killed by the slow destruction Of places to live - Now the only fonction That reaps rewards is profit And the making of it Can't afford to look after the poor If they really want more - we've got it
The price is lifelong dedication To the status quo of this consumer nation Offer no alternative, don't talk back Work for twenty years then get the sack Or not! How much have you got? What kind of strength can take you The lenght of the ladder? Can you reach the top? Is it madder Or saner to stay off the rungs And start complaining? About the endless waste, the draining Off of human inspiration Where people and labour And buildings and nature are wasted Got a taste of it Stood by the rubble, by the river, on a bridge
Up in the morning, out of the block Into the office it's down to the boss Up, down and sideway, straight across Who sets the motion? Who gets the job? Who gets the job?
I just got a promotion The people are bigger up there Get a suit to fit (x3)
Routinery scenery go holiday The distance we go is set by the pay Ambition retrieval, “We'll get there one day” Who sets the distance? Where do you stay? Where do you stay?
I just got an extension The office had run out of space Getting on with it (x3)
Out of the office, back from the block Came worker and workload set by the clock Checked in on family, checked out the box It's not what you're getting, it's what you haven't got
This bloke just won a million quid And he's gonna keep his job Got used to it (x3)
Swindon town going down Another division today With the introduction of 'Mondex' cards Personality on display Out with those tiresome coins and notes It's a credit card status mirror to show You're a flexible reliable upbeat type Choosing to follow the 'optional' hype
Believe consume then pay (x2)
Here it all is to choose or refuse All your statistics, the portable you Name and number, size and amount Of transferable credit in your bank account Swindon town is being taken down The disinformation highway Consumer credibility testing ground Believe consume then pay
Believe consume then pay (x2)
The 'optional' tag is original stance You don't have to do it, but now here's your chance Gradually the rich and social élite Will be forcing the standards for us all to meet And once reported to be a success By those who do the consumer tests It'll be standard procedure across the nation Like satellite dishes - infatuation
Gimmy, gimmy, gimmy more of it now Believe consume then pay (x2)
Novelty rat race, acceleration Into a future with all hesitation Set aside by the fear of alienation From society - It's all connotation It's all connotation
You are what you carry on plastic cards And plastic cards are carrying you When all you contain and all that you are Is lost - Well what will you do?
But we refuse to play But we refuse to play - Create a false desire then feed it (x3) Create a false desire then feed it (x2)
Scene 496: Café In Melksham Enter Spike Mcoffee
How now the rose in red and pink and white Its petals soft as blades of metal Melting in the noontime rays And frosted cold again at night
How now the rose in sharpened thorns Its underlying nature warns That beauty holds itself above proximity: A 'Do not touch' sign on its stem That, unconsidered' wreaks revenge On those whose jealousy condemns
Screaming baby in a café A mewling child that will be wild In its persistence to inflict Its misery upon the ear It's times like this I get too near To kids to ever want to be parental On the verge of going mental Shrieking spikes and lacerations Ruining my concentration
Over there Another angled child was dangled From a chair aware of crying in the air And walked away from mother's smile To pass one on to the screaming child Who seeing some consideration Stopped its wailing emulation Of tanks on slopes with failing brakes That other kid had what it takes
As we all like to think we do But we just sit and let it pass While this bright kid got off its ass And made the difference for us all Just by being natural (x2)
I doubt that kiddies name was Rose It was probably something like Brian But it knew what to do, the instinctive approach And somehow it stopped the kid crying
Sometimes Something good Needs understating to be understood Needs towing back from the cliché status That empties meaning from the phrases Used so often - once they held The singularity of the bell Used so often - once they held The singularity of the bell
When words on overtime ring false cheer Cos everyone's saying them, it numbs the ears
Picking up catchlines The wrong word at the wrong time Lost your future friends The wrong word at the right time Started up a trend The right word at the right time Is only in your head (x2) Sometimes Something bad Needs overstating in a sense gone mad When pain fear and grief Become too easy to believe Then the feeling isn't coming through When we daily consume oversimplified gloom Reported by strangers We fear anything we're not set to receive And feel alienated
So when someone's pain Gets in our faces We need to hear Different phrases That we can believe (x3)
What kind of worlds have we created Where basic feelings need re-creating To avoid the perceptions of fiction and cliché Being received? How long before via screen mentality Will we all forget how to tell the reality (x2) Careful how you feed
Wind blows strongly in its rush to arrive In your face for as long as you like or hate it We place ourselves either for or against And then later on we replicate it Back in the box with the gasmasks off We stare at the blocks through the double glazing Wishing the air was cleaner, aware Of a forecast declaring us crazy - crazy
Mindset in concrete headset on loud To cover the noise and avoiding the crowds Lungs on the run and breathing too fast No time to talk the air doesn't last So back to the edge where the wind hits you hard This is the reason you get out of the car But then you feel lost and go back to sitting Inside the car and then back to the city
When the air is polluted - luted, the sun is reputed - puted To give us all cancer, the rain starts to sting We get immune to it, hoping/assuming it Will somehow get better… You better stay in You better stay in, you better stay in
Now we talk about the weather a whole lot more Running out of conversation and running back indoors We position our excursions and forget how to explore Until the wind blows strong enough to make us want some more
==== Catholic Sex Confession ====</font></p> The voice at the box had finally lost Years of frustration in a drunk night of passion And declared in confession To the nearest proffessional Guilt control know it all: “For once all my pride was illusion A false self exclusion From pleasures so vast they can hardly be named.” And was told in a cold voice “You should feel ashamed! “The church knows its business and needs the control Of the body in order to manage the soul. Sexual freedom destroys any faith In a church that says freedom begins at the grave, So we frown on the physical and ban contraception, Abortion and women from being the pope. Its down in the bible that god is a man And abstention and caution are how we all cope. “Did you use contraception? You didn't!? That's good! The pope doesn't use it, no reason you should Unless she gets A.I.D.S. or a pregnancy, mind I suggest you get tested and see what they find. No doubt she'll keep any offspring concealed From the press and the like, get some funds from the plate. Now time marches on and I'm late for a meal, Hailmary times ten. Don't do it again.” Don't do it again, don't do it again (x3) They met face to face in the church the next day Without knowing who the other one was “I've had it I'm finished” said one “and I leaving. There's nothing left here I can truly believe in.” “But why?” asked the man, and she said ” Because I'm a nun and I'm pregnant and I don't want the baby But you will say no to whatever I choose You never say yes and you only say maybe When someone you personally know gets abused. This body is mine not a baby machine But in the eyes of the church I am trash, So I quit your heirarchical sexist regime; To be me is that too much to ask?!”
==== Criminal ====</font></p> Here in the criminal justice act It says it's illegal to even react By marching against the sudden new lack Of freedom of movement, assembly, and that Goes for everyone, cos now we're all dispossessed Little joy in the illusion that they can't mess up our heads As we're taking life as being a reward We're constantly told that we can't afford To live it - not the way we do Cos now we're breaking the law - is it me or is it you Who thought we could live without heeding it? Now the boundaries have shrunk to fit To lifestyles Based on total social complicity To work ethic-media-domesticity Staying silent in response to freedoms Being so curtailed we forget we need them To exist - variety breeds tension Then people debate what was never mentioned Before - ideas deal with feelings And laws try to shape the ideas that we deal in At the point where the ideas Have spread enough distance - distance To call it a lifestyle - lifestyle We start to meet the resistance Here in the criminal justice act All our paranoias turn out to be fact! They really are out to get you! So party on, dude! Now we've all been criminalised For refusing to be led They can't control our movements They can't close down our heads And if you start to think they can They've won another round Toward completion of their plan To keep the people down The more we get pushed The more we push back Destroy the criminal justice act! (x2)
==== What Charlie Said ====</font></p> Be as honest as you can be Question orders, accept ideas Make a meal of what you're eating Don't be scared of social fears Oh that's what Charlie said Pass the plate before it gets heavy Have what's given, give what's gained Spot the gaps but know connections See how freedoms are retained And that's what Charlie said Play with work and work with play Make it all come back some day Be more entrance than departure Know somehow something you're after Oh that's what Charlie said Under the influence It turns the senses to directions Never known before It sets us up and keeps the score Provides a point to reach then we've got there And start again Provides a point to reach then we've got there And start again I don't agree with it I think it's really good Here's something else to fit And now it's understood My head's struck in advice Under the influence I had to ask him twice And then it all made sense Come here and pull up an edge And tell me your name I'm no longer sure I've met you before And I'd like to meet you again Under the influence, under the influence (x3)
==== Fill Me Up ====</font></p> Do you know what you are eating? Oh! fill me up with food The stomach's ringing hunger bells Sometimes anything will do Beware the wind that coke can bring It dries the parts it reaches Cultural deserts carry the can Coke adds life then bleeds it Eat it! Be watching out for indigestion Long time since you touched a cow Farming forms to fit consumption That pain is what you eat, not how Do you know what you are breathing? Oh! fill me up with air The lungs are wringing out the smells For something fresh to wear Cars that fume in queues for more petrol To get to somewhere else to breath Air conditioning through acceptance Extra for the weathermen to read Breath it! As air gains the status of grades Quality recedes as any of it gets praised Will they put it in bottles like they did with the rain? Oxygenerico in profit again and again and again What we eat and drink and breathe Filters down through industry Creates our life expectancy Do you know what you are drinking? Oh! fill me up with water All bar the lungs are in on this one Ninety percent and way important Tap on the back says don't use tap Scarcity value or it just tastes crap Privatised and purified Its raining chemistry outside Eat it! Drink it! Breath it! What we eat and drink and breathe Creates our life expectancy Choking the consumer dies Clutching burger, coke and fries (x2) Burger, coke and fries</font></p>
Let's go down to the beaches And run from the edge of the sea See what the movement teaches A frail sense of autonomy
Cold toes in the water Two steps from freezing feet Feel the strenght as you go in deeper And the cold consistency And if there's anyone watching You dare not turn around Til your arms are doing the clutching As your feet leave the ground Control or capitulation A new sense of affinity Having lost all the hesitation But back there it was just the sea
Just a blue mass on the postcards Just a place to race the boats Just a waveline on the blackboard And now see how long the illusion float With risk co-ordination Swim half as far as you can We lose control of the situation When we think we've got it all pre-planned
Back in dead-air building blocks We lose the urge to take a risk And calmly change our sandy socks Wishing there was more that this Stuck in these concrede houses We dry out in the heat Invent the worst excuses To stay there permanently
Too many regulations Too many rituals The biggest risk was taken Deep-ending in the swimming pool The structured sand and water Reflects our structures lives We swim but never further Than the constraints of our minds
Let's get back to the beaches Wider than a postcard And run straight into the sea Longer than a holiday
That's what the movement teaches Sink or swim spontaneity
You'll see what citizen can be If we recall the deep blue sea That evolved our weary brains Getting shrunk from too much stress We either get back into swimming Or we sink into a mess!
Weel you know nothing will ever get solved If you feel you shouldn't get involved Claiming ignorance of what to say Or how to say it the 'proper' way Well you're noding your head but building walls By keeping your thoughts invisible And blaming ignorance from everyone else For leaving you stranded by yourself Well they presumed that your happy like that If you dropped the scowl you'd be in for a chat Maybe - it's as simple as what they see And they can see a lot
So don't point the finger til you shaken the hand Get to know to way these people understand From strangers at a party - Who's that over there? To those in a different country where the language makes you scared
If you're in a solo situation Face to unknown face Start a walking conversation And then increase the pace The walls get built by silence But are easily replaced Cos in every style of language It is easy to relate And a smile or open signal Can lay the barriers to waste
Pack a few less self-images And make it less of an ego trip And the distance will be nothing Between visitor and visited Words used such as 'strangers' Make us sink in hesitation But the language of intention Speaks out loud in all directions Once you've cleared your inner fears You can carry on for years!
There's a lot of people There's a lot of food There's a lot of money All being misused
You feed the starving millions with donations of a quid (a pound sterling) You buy another telly, that's what the neighbours did
You flick across the channels An catch the evening news All those starving children Are staring right at you
You're no longer feeling guilty cos you've given to the cause And there's another royal baby to help you ignore
Who's doing very well thank you And that's all from the news at ten We'll be back with the sordid facts Covered over with trivial crap To help you stop thinking To keep you relaxed Same time tomorrow night See you then (x2)
Silence Considering musical violence
As the airwaves break those anytime pauses Quiet reflection on the nature of noises Disturbing suburban platitudes Heards a yell that created a solitude Outside Opened the window wide
My curiosity satisfied It was no-one I knew so I carried on hiding My instinctive reaction to join in the shouting And increase the volume, but a sense of doubt in My head Told me to shut up instead
Return to the previous peace I'd been seeking For no other reason than to work out a theory That noise is just a sound on a different scale To what we expect, so I started to yell Out loud Soon a curious crowd
Was standing outside looking up at my window I looked out, they could see I was no-one they knew, so Their instinctive reaction to be part of the noise Or part of the reason for the silence destroyed Got hid “Nobody does” what I did
Except for the first son whose total immersion In this social excursion was more than diversion With a similar yell I could tell who he was The voice with a noise that I'd heard, and because One yell Had sort of broken the spell
So we laughed and we shouted in a lack of respect For the conditional silence that has come to connect All the neighbours as strangers living under the treat Of discovering life beyond what they expect
What do you expect from this?
Picture a scene and pull it apart Who owns this field? Who drives that car? Who put up the sign saying this is mine Keep of the grass and keep in line
Big big house in the country side Souvenir shops don't close til nine Postcards do when the sun don't shine Please be gone by closing time
Picture a scene and pull it apart Who built this house at the very start? Who was forced to work for some food in their hand And some space in the corner of the master's land?
Big big house in the country side Souvenir shops don't close til nine Postcards do when the sun don't shine Please be gone by closing time
This exploitation based on class Is here in the present like it was in the past History builds an image that we never look behind Someone's giving orders while the rest are kept in line
Here it is your heritage Based on class and privilege Mr. and Mrs. Average Are thinking “Well this is fine” Living somewhere in between The cardboard box and the limousine Part of their same society Conveniently re-defined
I've got a mind bomb disposal unit knocking on my head Checking out the rumour that I meant just what I said They've drawn so many chalk lines that I may as well be dead On the blackboard, on the pavement, but I won't eat what I'm fed - what I'm fed
I've seen the public access but they wouldn't let me in Conformity has dress code and I'm two stone overthin And anyhow the chances are they wouldn't let me in Presumptions give the innovator no chance to begin
It's either “Be one step ahead” or “Keep up with the rest” There's so many messages telling me they know what's best I've got a mind bomb disposal unit knocking on my head (x2)
They've opened up the corridors and left the doors ajar With anoraks and plastic bags the consumer can go far Ashtrays fill and pinballs tilt to emphasise the scars Of a society raised on promises, falling back on credit cards - credit cards
So let's go on a cathode raid and steal some empty minds Fill 'em full of hopes and dreams and call it leasure time There's a guy who's got no T.V. and we've got him on the line Stay detuned for further progress, here's a few things you can buy - you can buy
I've strolled across the empty roads as pedestrianos stare At lights to turn from red to green, to get from there to there Billboard faces mock attention given unaware Reliance on subliminals and a defiance of being scared
And there's a token comic strip at the bottom of the page It isn't very funny but we're laughing anyway Smiles are hard to come by when the picture starts to fade And someone's favourite punchline is another person's wage
It's either 'Be one step ahead' or 'Keep up with the rest' There's so many messages telling me they know what's best I've got a mind bomb disposal unit knocking on my head (x2) I've thought in terms of relaxation, giving things a rest Cos the constant realisation leaves presumptions in a mess But every turn in the situation seems to be a test A dotted line for the mind to sign away its intellect - but not me not yet
The altered state of reality that's printed screened and said Is feeding time for the mind that knows of nothing else instead Keen to kill the essential will of refusing to be fed I've got a mind bomb disposal unit knocking on my head - knocking on my head
Chili Pain!
The heat is hot like desert rain Floods of fire as I pespire All sensation feeds the flame “Did it before… Do it again!”
Something transmits to my brain Through chemical sparks that quickly drain Into the arteries and veins
And throat! The scarcity Of any type of other need Like the cut without the bleeding Some intensity of feeding From the mass slowly reeling With physical mental sharpened feeling
I could attack or defend Choose the time I spend Without counting the cost Without feeling a loss Almost any space increases As the twitching face decreases So puch the essence and feel the gain Trace the source through the fire and pain
Chili Pain! - Pain (x2)
Give me Beethoven or give me death! (x2) Give me Beethoven, give me some air… Give me Beethoven…
Give me Beethoven or give me death! Fasten your seatbelts hold your breath I don't wanna think about watery graves Blow me away on the turbulent waves Earphone chatline to the creator Keep this plane up a few hours later The C-60 cycles the number five Across the air as we wave goodbye
Give me Beethoven or give me death!
To having any destiny control A new sense of fear with a love of the old Being able to gain from a shaking plane A proximity to death and maybe living again In musical form! Unconsidered before! Well that's quite a lofty ambition kid To be shaking up the aerospine like Ludwig did! Shaking up the aerospine like Ludwig did! Shaking up the aerospine
But while the neighbours, unattached To Ludwig Van, were unrelaxed By thoughts of turbulence making cracks In their temporary home - temporary home Me! I was gone… despatched - despatched
Give me Beethoven or give me death!
To the flights of fancy nightmare edged That grasping strings, leap from the ledge And punctuating air with fists Like orchestrated masochists Cry “Freedom from all rational fear!” And hit the waves prepared to dive For what goes reaching down as deep As that which takes us all so high? So high - so high - high
Give me Beethoven or give me death!
If all the things you say to me Were steps towards some unity I wouldn't keep on staring In semi disbelief Because as you say you'd do one thing You behave so contradictory So don't propound your theories If they don't reflect reality
I don't know you very well I find it hard to even tell you That you don't do what you could do… if you wanted to
So drop the image you have of me And talk a bit more openly We'll sat across the table in an empty house Are we ever really able to talk it out? Don't stop to count the amount of times we've tried Watching the wall as the conversation died
Open the windows and look outside A million strangers walking by And us creating alibis For what we really feel inside
You don't know me very well I don't know you very well We find it hard to even tell Each other that we'd like to talk it over Remove the cover, talk it over Find a corner, talk it over (x2)
Grabbed by the shoulders he shook his head in desperation knowing whatever was said in this situation would only lead, like it had already led, to having his shoulders shaken again, by those that believed that when nothing was said then nothing was meant: yet by the shaking they could only prevent any one-to-one making clear of intent.
Not that merely waiting would've guaranteed a different state in this latent situation, and no amount of patience can replace a caring statement lined with an indication of the kind of slow frustration that no offered explanation of an action, lying beyond the comprehension, builds.
All the will in the world is never enough, nor the animosity that gets rough - some nameless touch is needed to calm the gaps between the offender and the offended, until the cracks that nature unintended in the minds of those where any hope has ended, are closed.
And once where necks were almost wrung the voices sing things never sung together, maybe not so much forever, but enough to keep unsevered the connections once begun.
Confort? Sofa chair pacifying words A touch on the shoulder to tell me that you'd heard
Understanding to attention just in case you heard it wrong A fear of contradiction cos your feeling can't belong To this given situation that no-one can take away A smile, a nervous glance, “Well I'll be back some other day”
But you really had to go and left this atmosphere behind So now it's back to circumstance, solutions hard to find As I turn the burning enbers of a past that recently I'd found harder to remember than I thought was good for me
But once confirmed the truth had pulled that 'recently' to shreds Now the obvious lies bleeding and the future holds my breath
Shall I turn the page and start again? Or throw the book away Shall I tell you of these feelings? Or find something new to say?
It's the act of making choices Asking questions, hearing voices Mixing pain and self-resentment With a knowledge that contentment Is a process of selection Cos in every situation There are good and bad directions you can go
You can wallow in the fantasy Regenerating memories Or use the open scenery Impulse flow more easily
If all the good things disappear for what seems like eternity Remember you created them by being what you'll always be Receiving input, giving back what makes you tick in time Natural instinctive tack running up the spine
Use your central nervous system To help make up your mind Looking out with indecision Wastes a lot of time
If it feels good take the risk And here I am talking like this And saying 'you' instead of 'me'…
Experience is globally perceived as being basically a common sense capacity to understand the variety of influence upon the way we are Having gone so far There is no reasoning can stop us once we've reasoned what we've got
When the traffic lights turned red And a car kept going, well, nothing was said It was quietly understood That if he could do it, anyone could I can do that, I can do that, I can do that, yeah! But the queue remained and we felt the strain Of being the majority obeying the authority Of traffic lights turned red - traffic lights turned red
When the traffic lights turn green And the car in front couldn't start, it seemed Like he was holding us up to show We were happy to stop until told to go Oh no! No! No! And the queue remained and we felt the strain Of being the majority needing the authority Of traffic lights turned green - traffic lights turned green
When the traffic lights broke down There was a whole lot of cars reaching out of town We were all too scared to move Until a man in a uniform told us what to do And as we drove on by We wondered why We hadn't gone the other way Or gone ahead and said “Hooray! Gone ahead and said “Hooray! (x4) The traffic lights are broken down! (x4)
Beep! Beep!
You can't see the moon above the city The sky is always full of clouds Even when the sun's gone down It's like living on the underground Black and white in shades of brown
And you can't breathe the air in the city With the fumes of cars and factories Your lungs ain't what they're used to be Breathe in the new complacency At least it's good for industry At least it's smells like home (x2)
And you can't get a job in the city With all the new technology Robots run the factories It's sanitized economy Robots don't get lung disease
In the cit-ty, in the cit-ty-ty
In the city you can't get a job In the city you can't get a flat You can't get much of what he's got And he can't get much of that
Give you a deal, was fair and square Four walls, ceiling and floor Thing to keep you from getting more ???
In the cit-ty-ty-ty, in the cit-cit-cit-ty-ty
How big is that hole around your head? How big is that hole around your town? How big is that hole around your lifestyle? - lifestyle
How big is that hole around your head? How big is that hole around your town? How big is that hole around your ??? ? ??? the ideas of pulling it all down Pulling it all down, pulling it all down, pulling it all down
And you can't get healthy in the city The sky is so grey It's like forty fags a day And the water is hard beneath the foam The despondency inside Merely reflects the concrete sky So let's go out Let's stay in - at least it smells like home