"ABCDEFG" (2010)

• Introduction lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Voices, That's All lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Pickle lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Wagner At The Opera lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Underground lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Torturing James Hetfield lyrics - Chumbawamba
• The Devil's Interval lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Hammer, Stirrup & Anvil lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Puccini Said lyrics - Chumbawamba
• That Same So-So Tune lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Singing Out The Days lyrics - Chumbawamba
• You Don't Exist lyrics - Chumbawamba
• The Song Collector lyrics - Chumbawamba

Introduction lyrics - Chumbawamba

In the dark times, will we be singing?
Yes, we'll be singing of the dark times.

Every new day's dawn
Brings a song of it's own
Waiting to be sung.

Every new day's dawn
Brings a song of it's own

Voices, That's All lyrics - Chumbawamba

Seigfried Sassoon on the Dunbar End (Everyone sang)
When strangers became your new best friends (Everyone sang)
It was Armistice Day, and peace broke out (Everyone sang)
Sometimes a melody is louder than a shout. (Everyone sang)

Somebody struck up a song
We didn't know the words but still we sang along.

Just our voices, that's all,
Everywhere a concert hall.
Voices, that's all
Lullaby and call.

Chucking out time at the bar on the corner (Everyone sang)
From the Albion tap room to California (Everyone sang)
In the olden days before they put in a jukebox (Everyone sang)
"Please to put a penny in the old man's voice box." (Everyone sang)

Somebody struck up a song
We didn't know the words but still we sang along.

Just our voices, that's all,
Everywhere a concert hall.
Voices, that's all
Lullaby and call.

Lost in the middle of a demonstration (Everyone sang)
All power to imagination (Everyone sang)
Your song it sounds a whole lot better (Everyone sang)
When everyone sings that song together (Everyone sang)

Somebody struck up a song
We didn't know the words but still we sang along.

Just our voices, that's all,
Everywhere a concert hall.
Voices, that's all
Lullaby and call.

Just our voices, that's all,
Everywhere a concert hall.
Voices, that's all
Lullaby and call.

Just our voices, that's all.

Pickle lyrics - Chumbawamba

Preserved and safe on a high-up shelf
Where soiled little fingers can't mess
Catalogued labeled and rarely-played
Polished and pure and possessed

Aaahaa - That's not music
Aaahaa - That's a pickle
Aaahaa - That's not music
Aaahaa - That's a pickle

Best keep your songs in the safety of darkness
And never expose them to light
Open with care (shh), pack in the box
All your songs might grow wings and take flight

Aaahaa - That's not music
Aaahaa - That's a pickle
Aaahaa - That's not music
Aaahaa - That's a pickle

Pickle [x12]

(Whealin' and the dealin' there, in the whiskey business for a long time...
And this guy had a guitar...
It laid around there and I lotta times there wouldn't be any customers in the place
And I'd grab up this guitar and I got to pecking around on it
And I thought it sounded awful pretty)

Wagner At The Opera lyrics - Chumbawamba

I'm laying on the pavement
And the last thing I recall
Picked up by the arms and legs
And taken from the hall
For squaring up to culture
In the circle and the stall

All because they're playing Wagner at the opera
All because they're playing Wagner at the opera

Hurt can make you act without
Apology or regret
Over half a century
But still I can't forget
Ideology makes a mockery
Of the string quartet

All because they're playing Wagner at the opera
All because they're playing Wagner at the opera

When they came to take me
I was standing on a chair
I can't keep quiet
I have something to declare
Listen to my rattle
For my rattle says "Beware"

All because they're playing Wagner at the opera
All because they're playing Wagner at the opera

A rattle for remembering
The rattle of the chains
A rattle for remembering
The rattle of the trains
From Warsaw down the decades
To hell and home again

All because they're playing Wagner at the opera
All because they're playing Wagner at the opera

For everyone we lost
I swing the rattle loud and long
I swing it 'til I drown out
All the music and the songs
This tattoo will last forever
And my memory is long

Here's to no more playing Wagner at the opera
Here's to no more playing Wagner at the opera
Here's to no more playing Wagner at the opera

Underground lyrics - Chumbawamba

Lights out, the fun begins.
Can't sleep when I'm listening in.
Under cover, that sound -
My connection to the underground.
Underground...
My connection to the underground.

Transistor, tiny spark.
A bigger, better world in the dark.
Under cover, I found
My connection to the underground.
Underground...
My connection to the underground.

A secret signal from a Starman -
Just a string and a tin can.
It turned my everything right around;
My connection to the underground.
Underground...
My connection to the undergound.

Torturing James Hetfield lyrics - Chumbawamba

Well, we got James Hetfield
And we tied him up tight
Naked and cold
We kept the strip lights bright
Said what have you got for us James
He said nothing at all
So we dragged some speakers
In from the hall

James James James
Just give us names names names
James James James

Well, we tried every tune in the songbook
To loosen his tongue
We played Simply Red nonstop
He just swayed along
Then we had an idea
A new plan of attack
Thought that even a deaf man
Would bend and crack

James James James
Just give us names names names
James James James

Now look what we've brought for you James
Your favorite disc
It's Chumbawamba
Their greatest hits (There's only one)
Turned up the volume
You should've heard him sing (Oh how he sings)
He cried like a baby
And told us everything (it was Lars!)

James James James
Just give us names names names
James James James

The Devil's Interval lyrics - Chumbawamba

If you should walk out in the morning
To fetch your water from the well
Good people please beware
Little children do take care
Watch out for the devil's interval

When strumming through the woods in springtime
When evening blackbirds coo and caw
Such sounds of joy and sadness
May hide the prince of darkness
Beware the devil's interval
Beware the devil's interval

The kettle whistlin' in the kitchen
The chiming clock that's in the hall
Should they sound e flat to a
Then lucifer is on his way
Here comes the devil's interval
Here comes the devil's interval

Don't take your loved one to the dance hall
Lest music drag you down to hell
Pay no mind to songs like these
For I may be Mephistopheles
Singing the devil's interval
Singing the devil's interval

Aaahaa...Aahaa...Aahaa...Aaah [x3]

Hammer, Stirrup & Anvil lyrics - Chumbawamba

Our Glorious Leader
Declares by decree:
'The music of the Glorious State from this time on will be
Square-jawed and dreary
For the good of us all.'
Hammer, stirrup and anvil under state control

My name is Dimitri
Man of some renown
In this symphony of spies I keep my ear to the ground
Stave, crochet and quaver
Under the editor's scrawl
Hammer, stirrup and anvil under state control

An operetta for our leader
A quartet for the drawer
He gets the rank cantatas
And I keep the score
A libretto for the death camps
Some day you'll hear them all
Hammer, stirrup and anvil under state control
Hammer, stirrup and anvil under state control

Puccini Said lyrics - Chumbawamba

[opera in background]

Maria, she sits in the same easy chair
Framed by the sun from outside
Sings 'Madame Butterfly' over again
Black daisies
For the bride

[opera in background]

Encores and curtain calls, flowers and cheers
And so many people to see!
Puccini said "One day, Miss Tobyn
You'll be singing this song just for me
Just for me"

[opera in background]

That Same So-So Tune lyrics - Chumbawamba

[spoken]
"Bang, the little drummer takes a solo, reaching his young hands all over traps and kettles and cymbals and foot-peddle
BOOM in a fantastic crash of sound – but what will happen?"

The dance halls are dark now
The ballrooms are closed
No wax for my needle and I don't suppose
You'll be swinging by anytime soon
Singing that same so-so tune
Nobody's playing
No-one's been paid
The music's all stopped and
You never said you could
Wait from September to June
Singing that same so-so tune
While brothers are fighting and working to rule
Here's a tired, sentimental old song
It goes: 'Ooh, baby, baby
Treating me wrong'
We'll be back where we belong before long
(It's the beat of the heart)
(It's the beat of the heart)
(It's the beat of the heart)
(It's the beat of the heart)
(It's the beat of the heart)

While brothers are fighting and working to rule
Here's a tired, sentimental old song
It goes: 'Ooh, baby, baby
Treating me wrong'
We'll be back where we belong before long
I've heard all the stories
It's wild and it's new
Hot sounds in the city
But what can I do?
Might as well shoot for the moon
Singing that same so-so tune
Singing that same so-so tune

Singing Out The Days lyrics - Chumbawamba

Half the front's out there, half-buried
Some of them alive
The rest of us, we freeze and pray for Spring
"Dearest Mother, fill my lungs till victory or food arrives"
What else can we do out here but sing?

Sixteen years and never been kissed
Singing out the days
Jumped the queue and the waiting list
Singing out the days
Civvy suits and new recruits, clean your rifle, polish your boots
Learn to give the correct salute
Singing out the days
Singing
Singing
Singing, singing out the days
We march until we drop
Then we go over the top
Singing, singing out the days
Lice and rats along the trench
Singing out the days
Coffin nails to cover the stench
Singing out the days
For thirty weeks we hold the line while all the toffs get reassigned
Apart from the war, we're doing fine
Singing out the days
Singing
Singing
Singing, singing out the days
We march until we drop
Then we go over the top
Singing, singing out the days
Songs for drowning out the shells
Singing out the days
Songs to prove you're alive and well
Singing out the days
Songs for our humanity in the face of inhumanity
To demonstrate your sanity
Singing out the days
Singing
Singing
Singing, singing out the days
We march until we drop
Then we go over the top
Singing, singing out the days

You Don't Exist lyrics - Chumbawamba

Take a seat, have a cigarette
We're here to help you to forget
To snap you shut like a castanet

Tell me where it all went wrong
Why don't you write the kind of songs
For people to sing along?

I used to play
The violin
Now I spend my days just
Listening in

You have no friends
You won't be missed
I'm here to tell you that you don't exist
You have no friends
You won't be missed
I'm here to tell you that you don't exist

There's just one door out of here
You can save your career
Or you can
'Disappear'

Our Glorious Leader would advise
Some kind of compromise
Anything else would be unwise

I used to play
The tambourine
Now I spend my days just
Listening in

You have no friends
You won't be missed
I'm here to tell you that you don't exist
You have no friends
You won't be missed
I'm here to tell you that you don't exist

The Song Collector lyrics - Chumbawamba

The Folk Society meet on Thursday nights
Clear their throats and put their coughs to flight
To sing the dusty cobwebs from the room
A repertoire both in and out of tune
Don't assume a singalong, or worse
This history in song and countless verse
Pays homage to the man who, long ago
Collected all the songs the singers know
Collected all the songs the singers know

Edward Alexander, man of action
Armed only with his reel-to-reel contraption
One hundred years ago in mac and boots
Set out to faithfully preserve the region's roots
And every night in some small village inn
Fortified with fortitude and gin
Mr Alexander, for a shilling
Would thus record your song, if you were willing
Would thus record your song, if you were willing

So word got round, and soon there formed a queue
And the line of willing singers grew and grew
Brass for oohs and aahs? You can't go wrong
When there's someone paying a shilling for a song
When all his tapes are filled up, Edward leaves
There's a history preserved, so he believes
But all the so-called singers back inside
They know they took a city scholar for a ride
They know they took a city scholar for a ride

For they shook the man for every coin he'd got
With words and tunes all made up on the spot
Invented tales not twenty minutes old
So history, like ale, is bought and sold.
The old contraption's packed away and boxed
And a century is marked upon the clock
So tradition holds that Edward's great collection
Is honoured with a weekly resurrection
Honoured with a weekly resurrection

And now the old Society sing the songs
Word for word, and kept where they belong
As once again, they eulogise the past
You can hear the ghosts of history laughing last
You can hear the ghosts of history laughing last

Missed lyrics - Chumbawamba

Walking down the street on my own
Lost in the world of my headphones

Uhhhuuhuu...
Safe inside the boom and the hiss

Marking out the time with my feet
The d and the s of the beat

Uhhhuuhuu...
Wondering if there's something that I missed

Ratatatay lyrics - Chumbawamba

George looks gorgeous in pinstripes,
pocket handkerchief and cravat,
swaggering out of the Band On The
Wall in a burgundy Homberg hat,
singing "Ratatatay, ratatatay!" George
after-hours and the worse for whisky
when somebody shouts "Hey, you!" in
a pitch-black Manchester backstreet
... well, what's a poor singer to do but
sing "Ratatatay, ratatatay"? Two men
flashing a knife blade, saying "give us
your notes and your watch" - Singing
the backstreet stand-off to the rhythm
of the fear and the scotch. George, not
wanting to feel the knife, cornered
and speeding and scared ... from the
back of his mind comes 'Ursonate',
Sound and fury and words. He sings:
"Ratatatay, ratatatay!" So the robbers
are stuck to the spot now, watching
George as he sings for his life. Menace
turns to panic and they turn and run
and the song waves goodbye to the
knife - singing "Ratatatay, ratatatay!"

New York Song lyrics - Chumbawamba

First time in New York, just seventeen
in a motel full of poets, drunks and
queens. I walk the city streets into the
night to see Manhattan in the early
morning light. On the corner of a
street they laugh and talk, the young
men watch me coming, block my walk;
they see me slow right down - they
know I don't belong. Then all at once
... they all break into song.

Dance, Idiot, Dance - Chumbawamba

Here comes Nicholas, fiddle in hand,
into a world that he can't understand.
You can't keep pace with the master
race, his feet they're going all over
the place - he can't see his moves cos
there's egg on his face. Dance, idiot,
dance! His body's as stiff as
a cold lasagne, 'cos all he knows is
'Rule Brittannia'. His rhythm's so bad
that we're supposin' - maybe it's cos
his legs are frozen? Shouldn't be
wearing lederhosen! Dance, idiot,
dance! Messianical look in his eye,
arms akimbo, slapping his thigh. He
wrinkles his snout at a likely wench
(we've censored her answer and
pardoned her French) - it's hard for
your average Ubermensch. Dance,
idiot, dance! Poor old Nicholas got
up today, to Cecil Sharpe House he
made his way. Wore his uniform just
to impress and said, "this must be the
place, I guess, for joining the EFD-SS?"
Dance, idiot, dance!

"The Boys Band Have Won" (2008)

• When An Old Man Dies lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Add Me lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Words Can Save Us lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Hull Or Hell lyrics - Chumbawamba
• El Fusilado lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Unpindownable lyrics - Chumbawamba
• I Wish That They'd Sack Me lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Word Bomber lyrics - Chumbawamba
• All Fur Coat & No Knickers lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Fine Line lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Lord Bateman's Motorbike lyrics - Chumbawamba
• A Fine Career lyrics - Chumbawamba
• To A Little Radio Right Around The World lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Sing About Love lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Bury Me Deep lyrics - Chumbawamba
• You Watched Me Dance lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Compliments Of Your Waitress lyrics - Chumbawamba
• RIP RP lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Charlie lyrics - Chumbawamba
• The Ogre lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Refugee lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Same Old Same Old lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Waiting For The Bus lyrics - Chumbawamba
• What We Want lyrics - Chumbawamba

When An Old Man Dies lyrics - Chumbawamba

Along with the shoes and the shirts and the ties
There's a library that's lost when an old man dies.

Add Me lyrics - Chumbawamba

I'm a loner, alone with neuroses and hate
Anger is a permanent character trait
My letter bombs are primed and they're ready to send
Would you like to add me as a friend?
I'm a wound-up whiner with a fetish for guns
I'm almost 50 and I live with my Mum
I hope my nude picture doesn't offend
Would you like to add me as a friend?

Add me, add me
Me mother says she wished she'd never 'ad me
Add me, add me
Would you like to add me as a friend?
Would you like to add me as a friend?

I'm a recovering alcoholic, I rarely leave my room
Peeping through the curtains in my dog costume
The voices in my head, oh they'll get me in the end
Would you like to add me as a friend?
I'd really like to mail you the picture that I drew
It's Kylie's body but the head is you
I've asked you fifty times before, I'm asking you again--
Would you like to add me as a friend?

Add me, add me
Me mother says she wished she'd never 'ad me
Add me, add me
Would you like to add me as a friend?
Would you like to add me as a friend?

Add me, add me
Me mother says she wished she'd never 'ad me
Add me, add me
Would you like to add me as a friend?
Would you like to add me as a friend?

Here's a picture of me in my Nazi uniform
Doing a trick with an egg that I like to perform
At a monster truck rally that my Mum and me attend
Would you like to add me as a friend?

I've added Britney and Paris and you and Tom
I'm going to find your address so I can visit you at home
I don't like people but I like to pretend
Would you like to add me as a friend?

Add me, add me
Me mother says she wished she'd never 'ad me
Add me, add me
Would you like to add me as a friend?
Would you like to add me as a friend?

Words Can Save Us lyrics - Chumbawamba

April morning summer come soon
Clouds follow after
Morning sun is hidden by noon
Day shrouded over
Tears to face the morning news
We watch our future burn
And wonder if we'll ever learn
That words can save us

War in Broken Promise Land
Fame fear and gunfire
Cowboy culture blood on its hands
Flag fuel and empire
Bit parts for shooting stars
Above the dying trees
No-one looking up to see
How words can save us

Number one Favourite son
One more outsider
Army drops its cluster bombs
Boy sees his future
World are you listening now?
This fool just had his day
Who'll be brave enough to say
That words can save us?

Hull Or Hell lyrics - Chumbawamba

Of larks trains windows and brooks
The poet he writes it all down in his book
Won't meet your eye but he wants you to look
In Hull or hell he lies

Lambs in the winter and swans in the spring
Children at play they're like birds on the wing
And the poet he writes that the sun seems to swing
In Hull or hell he lies

Away from the world and away from the page
Hidden in corners the gathering of age
Retreats to the wings where he once held the stage
In Hull or hell he lies

The dirt and the filth that we don't get to see
That's eating his language away
This yellow-eyed nastiness hides from the light of the day

Resenting the everyday growing so old
Where winter once pictured as flowers in fold
Turned frosty and bitter and weathered and cold
In Hull or hell he lies

His housemaid she tried but the dirt grew so fast
The darkest of colours he nailed to the mast
Stuck in his ways like he's stuck in the past

El Fusilado lyrics - Chumbawamba

Listen close to this crooked mouth
For my story I will tell–o
Lived in Mexico by the name of Wenseslao Moguel–o
Left my home in Santiago
The heart of the city of Merida
Served with my brothers and sisters all
For the army of Pancho Villa

Stand me straight against the nearest wall
Line up your bravest soldiers oh
Ten good shots I'll take them all
They call me El Fusilado

The Federales captured me
Bound up my arms with wire
Officer comes he says “Take your aim –
Steady your guns and fire!”
Bullet holes all across my chest
Ripped up my shirt and my body–o
Heart beat on through the silenced guns
To the rhythm of life inside me–o

Stand me straight against the nearest wall
Line up your bravest soldiers oh
Ten good shots I'll take them all
They call me El Fusilado

Fell to the ground the officer came
One last shot to the head­–o
Heard through the pain as he walked away
And left me there for dead–o
All went quiet so I crawled away
I wasn't giving up to the glory
Ten good shots I took them all
And lived to tell my story

Stand me straight against the nearest wall
Line up your bravest soldiers oh
Ten good shots I'll take them all
They call me El Fusilado.

A true story. Wenseslao Moguel was captured while fighting in the Mexican revolution in 1915 and without trial sentenced to face the firing squad, ‘las sentencias al paredon'. After being shot by the squad, and despite receiving the ‘tiro de gracia' (shot at close range by the captain), Wenseslao somehow survived. He managed to escape and spent much of his life touring the USA with the ‘Ripley's Believe It Or Not' travelling museum.

Unpindownable lyrics - Chumbawamba

In the age before the information age
Making history and living for the days
We told our stories then in oh so many ways
We were unpindownable

The moth it changed between the chimney and the tree
I grew feet so I could crawl out from the sea
No-one dares to tell me what I'm going to be
For I am unpindownable.

I Wish That They'd Sack Me lyrics - Chumbawamba

Six in the morning don't want to wake
Sun laying low and the world sleeping late
Hate like the river runs heavy and deep
Oh I wish that they'd sack me and leave me to sleep

Five days from seven the week's hardly mine
The alarm clock's gone over to enemy lines
Waste my time working for cowards and creeps
Oh I wish that they'd sack me and leave me to sleep

Rain strikes the window heralds the day
Rain won't you wash these eight hours away?
Rain feeds the river runs heavy and deep
Oh I wish that they'd sack me and leave me to sleep

Birds at my window sing in the dawn
By the time that I'm home all this day will be gone
Spend my life sowing what others will reap
Oh I wish that they'd sack me and leave me to sleep

Rain strikes the window heralds the day
Rain won't you wash these eight hours away?
Rain feeds the river runs heavy and deep
Oh I wish that they'd sack me and leave me to sleep

Word Bomber lyrics - Chumbawamba

Strap these words
Around your waist
Open arms
A last embrace
Go make your peace
Commonplace
Take the train
A last goodbye
Throw your rhymes
At passers-by
‘One Love'
On your hi-fi
Words
Words is all
Around the underground
And ticket halls
Declaring peace
Wall to wall
Back in Leeds
The news we heard
No-one killed
And no-one hurt
Wish all the young men
Used only words
Words
Words is all
Around the underground
And ticket halls
Declaring peace
Wall to wall.

All Fur Coat & No Knickers lyrics - Chumbawamba

A wave for the cameras
All fur coat and no knickers
Jayne Mansfield she came down
To cheer up the town
Lord Bono and his pals
They were a bit too busy saving the world
Well you have to take your hat off to The Edge

Those were the days my friend
We took the Stretford End
Now it's a Theatre of Dreams™
It's all smiles and handshakes
There's not a function I can't make
If the photo opportunity knocks
So long you suckers
All fur coat and no knickers
Cos I just sold my funeral
To Hell–Oh Oh Oh
Those were the days my friend

We took the Stretford End
Now it's a Theatre of Dreams™.

Fine Line lyrics - Chumbawamba

Those who stand accused
And those who point the finger
Are closer than you want to believe.

Lord Bateman's Motorbike lyrics - Chumbawamba

Lord Bateman runs an inn out on the A65
Sort of place where everybody drinks before they drive
Weekends runs a motorbike to Scarborough and back
He’s not too many brandies from a second heart attack
John Barleycorn he works the land and drinks at Bateman’s Inn
And every evening toasts to all the things that might have been
Tells the world that once he had a trial for Hull KR
Now he watches them on TV in the corner of the bar

Bateman gets up early lifts the latches on the gate
Seven horses stabled and the family sleeping late
Fourteen hundred acres two daughters and a son
He’ll ride the eastern coast and back before the morning’s done
Barleycorn he’s up at dawn and working off the beer
Same thing every day of every week of every year
Hears Lord Bateman racing by along the county lanes
And pulls his jacket tight against the coming of the rain...

Lord Bateman meets the storm that’s coming in from the shore
Speeding over Quarry Hill at 85 or more
There’s rain to take the wheels away rain among the glass
And rain to wash the blood into the tarmac and the grass
In the months to come John Barleycorn he sits and drinks his fill
Measures out his life between his pocket and the till
So down the generations Bateman’s son behind the bar
While Barleycorn he sips his beer and watches Hull KR.

A Fine Career lyrics - Chumbawamba

The councilor comes with his battered old suit
And his head all filled with plans
Says “It's not for myself, for the fame or wealth
But to help my fellow man.”
Fist in the air and the first to stand
When the Internationale plays
Says “We'll break down the walls of the old Town Hall
And we'll fight all the lifelong day!”
Ten years later where is he now?
He's ditched all the old ideas
Milked all the life from the old cash cow
Now he's got a fine career
Now he's got a fine career.

To A Little Radio Right Around The World lyrics - Chumbawamba

Bert told Brecht
Brecht told Bert
Words like birds flew right around the world
Right around the world
Right around the world
Words flew right around the world

Beware! Don't look away!
Hear what the poet has to say
Songs and rhymes for the worst of times
Paper feeds the fire In the coldest winter
Bert told Brecht
Brecht told Bert
Words like birds flew right around the world
Right around the world
Right around the world
Words flew right around the world

Wake up! Look around!
The painter learnt to juggle like a clown
Poet he shouts till they chase him out
Marching into exile with an old typewriter
Bert told Brecht
Brecht told Bert
Words like birds flew right around the world
Right around the world
Right around the world
Words flew right around the world

Take care! Open up your eyes!
Words can take you by surprise
Poet he writes fights the best of fights
Taking on the painter with a pen and paper...
Bert told Brecht
Brecht told Bert
Words like birds flew right around the world
Right around the world
Right around the world
Words flew right around the world
Right around the world
Right around the world
Words flew right around the world

Sing About Love lyrics - Chumbawamba

I don't want to sing about anger and hate
I don't want to sing about fear and defeat
I don't want to sing about the things I always sing about
I wish I could sing about love

I don't want to sing about war and greed
I don't want to sing about those we can't feed
I don't want to sing about the things I always sing about
I wish I could sing about love

I don't want to sing about suffering and pain
I don't want to sing for another campaign
I don't want to sing about the things I always sing about
I wish I could sing about love

I don't want to sing about rights and wrongs
I don't want to sing all the same old songs
But I'll sing them, and sing them, ‘til there's no need to sing them
And then I can sing about love.

Bury Me Deep lyrics - Chumbawamba

When I first came to Commons Lords
Life was simple for me
Took the milk from the children's mouths
You get nothing for free
Now if I should sleep…
Bury me deep

Waging war on those mutineers
Cut the heart took the soul
Broke the back of the working man
Cut the diamond with coal
Now if I should sleep…
Bury me deep.

You Watched Me Dance lyrics - Chumbawamba

You watched me dance from right to left
You watched me dance from left to right
And every time I learned the steps
You changed them overnight
Every twist every turn
Every waltz I danced alone
Now the steps are old and worn
You watched me dance.

Compliments Of Your Waitress lyrics - Chumbawamba

The day drags on and stumbles
I'm far too tired to smile
From the kitchen to the tables
I must've walked a thousand miles
The man at table number seven
He's not where he wanted to be
He's far too tired, or he's just been fired,
So he takes it all out on me
Takes it all out on me

Pretty young couple in the corner
With much too much to say
They don't like a thing that I bring them,
And they send it all away
They look in my eyes when I apologise
Say they want it all for free
They've got the guilt of easy money,
and they take it all out on me
Take it all out on me

The dignity of labour
It never rang true to me
Where's the pride in the nine to five
And the crook of the bended knee?
And a man wants my telephone number
So drunk he can hardly see
And I know in the haze of rejection
That he'll take it all out on me
Take it all out on me

So take advice from a girl who knows
The next time you complain
There's a hallway from the kitchen
Where I know I can't be seen
That's where I flavour the food I bring you:
Your steaks and your soups and your stew
Compliments of your waitress
I can take it all out on you
Take it all out on you.

RIP RP lyrics - Chumbawamba

Goodbye RP
Let our words go free
Coo and howl
Lay flat your vowels
Ah ay ee
Goodbye RP
Tongue uncross your t's
Slang and slur
Bah and burr
They thy thee
Goodbye RP Teachered tyranny
Speed this end
Our ows to bend...
Who were he wi'?

Charlie lyrics - Chumbawamba

All of nature in its place
By hand of the designer
Comes our Charlie spins the world
From here to Asia Minor
In between the Platypus
And perfect Aphrodite
Charlie come with opposing thumb
To question the Almighty

Over the river and over the sea
Through holy storm and thunder
Steer a course for a brave new world
Of common sense and wonder

See the dancing President
The congressman and teacher
Jumpin' to the music of
The wealthy Midwest preacher
Charlie come with a brand new dance
Get on the floor and follow
Find yourself a partner and
We'll swing into tomorrow

Over the river and over the sea
Through holy storm and thunder
Steer a course for a brave new world
Of common sense and wonder

Armed with truth we're stepping out
Come join the worldwide party
Charge your glass and face the world
We'll drink a toast to Charlie

Over the river and over the sea
Through holy storm and thunder
Steer a course for a brave new world
Of common sense and wonder.

The Ogre lyrics - Chumbawamba

The Ogre does what Ogres can
One prize beyond his reach –
Conquers those who write the world
But cannot master speech
Among the hurt and slain
On subjugated plain
The Ogre's words so morbid and mundane.

Refugee lyrics - Chumbawamba

It's good of you to ask me sir
How I spend my days
Water glass and ladders sir
Working for my pay
Back home I saw a future sir
Learnt my father's trade But here that counts for nothing sir
Paradise betrayed

Looking through the windows
All your world to see
To you I'm just another refugee

My mother needs the money sir
It's hard to make ends meet
Two more children still in school
Hungry mouths to feed

Looking through the windows
All your world to see
To you I'm just another refugee
Now this country is my home
This land of auctioneers
Cast your eye upon me sir
What price the dreams that brought me here?

Looking through the windows
All your world to see
Forever just another refugee.

Same Old Same Old lyrics - Chumbawamba

Lately it seems no-one cares anymore
That peace is a place where we rest between wars
I know oh I know we've been here before
It's the same old
It's the same old
It's the same old same old.

Waiting For The Bus lyrics - Chumbawamba

My name is Gary Tyler, Louisiana-born
Shadow of the poplar tree on fields all ripe with corn
Sixteen years I counted on the rising of the sun
I'm just waiting for the bus to take me home
Of all the Disunited States divided black and white
Louisiana taught me how to think and how to fight
Sixty of us kids aboard the number 91
I'm just waiting for the bus to take me home

Bus was barely moving we were set upon and stopped
Watched 200 white boys throwing bottles, cans and rocks
Trapped and scared together there was nowhere we could run
I'm just waiting for the bus to take me home
Boy outside the bus, an automatic in his hand
We heard a single shot and then we all just hit the ground
I never pulled a trigger and I never held a gun
I'm just waiting for the bus to take me home

White boy lay there bleeding cops they searched the bus
Never found a thing to say that it was one of us
Took us down the station they were beating us for fun
I'm just waiting for the bus to take me home
Gun produced from nowhere pinned the crime on me
A lynchmob for a jury meant they'd never set me free
Thirty years in prison for a crime I haven't done
I'm just waiting for the bus to take me home

Waiting here the world has turned a thousand times or more
Stranded like the man who never knew they'd stopped the war
Waiting for the pardon but the pardon never comes
I'm just waiting for the bus to take me home.

What We Want lyrics - Chumbawamba

We know what we want
We know what we've got
But what do we need?

"A Singsong And A Scrap" (2005)

• Laughter In A Time Of War lyrics - Chumbawamba
• William Francis lyrics - Chumbawamba
• By & By lyrics - Chumbawamba
• You Can (Mass Trespass, 1932) lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Walking Into Battle With The Lord lyrics - Chumbawamba
• When Alexander Meets Emma lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Fade Away (I Don't Want To) lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Bankrobber lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Learning To Love - Chumbawamba
• The Land Of Do What You're Told lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Bella Ciao lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Smith And Taylor lyrics - Chumbawamba
• The Untraditional lyrics - Chumbawamba

Laughter In A Time Of War lyrics - Chumbawamba

Sometimes feels like singing your life away
F sharp minor up and down the motorway
Too dog-tired; wouldn't want it any other way
Laughter in a time of War
Love on a Monday, football on a Saturday
Home-grown strawberries to justify the rain
Sometimes I do, but I shouldn't complain
Laughter in a time of War
Oh my soul
We got oil for the pan
We got rock n roll
Laughter lines run deeper than skin
And the world's just
Something that the cat brought in
Late summer evening after the attack
Food from the aeroplanes wrapped up in a flag
He went for the money but he won't come back
Laughter in a time of War
Take my life and sing it back to me
My big mouth, it's my own worst enemy
Funny how it all sounds better in harmony
Laughter in a time of War
Oh my soul
[Repeat]
The people at the top have further to fall

William Francis lyrics - Chumbawamba

William Francis, noble lord
His fortune built on sweat and sword
Built an empire tall as a hill
But he don't have fun and he never will
My, my

Sees the world so far below
And though he tries, he'll never know
Friends to greet the breaking of day
And love to pass the night away
My, my

William Francis high and dry
With his paradise denied
My, my

William Francis, lost, alone
A thousand ifs and a heart of stone
He measures his life in gain and cost
But he'll never add up the world he lost
My, my

William Francis high and dry
With his paradise denied
My, my

William Francis, master of all
But none to catch him when he falls
He works us long and he works us hard
But we'll dance all the way to the knacker's yard
My, my

William Francis high and dry
With his paradise denied
My, my

By & By lyrics - Chumbawamba

Don't waste the days when I'm dead and I'm gone
Wind up the clocks, ring around, carry on
Don't gather flowers, dry your eyes, call your friends
For all I sang was a start, not an end.

Catch your breath, feel the life in your bones
Enjoy what's to come, not the things that we've done.
Save all your prayers, take the pain and the hurt
Add your chorus to my verse

By and by, by and by
Forget that glorious land above the sky
Don't you cry, don't you cry
By and by

I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night
Alive as you and me
Says I, "But Joe, you're ten years dead"
"I never died," said he.

By and by, by and by
Forget that glorious land above the sky
Don't you cry, don't you cry
By and by

You Can (Mass Trespass, 1932) lyrics - Chumbawamba

For all those feet in ancient times
For stepping out of line
Dragging time and tide
Against the keepers of the past
The flags of class and caste
Limp upon the mast

All your week you were someone's slave
Today you're a free man
If they tell you you can't
Then you can
You can, you can, you can
You can, you can

Walking high upon the hills
Rough-shod against well-heeled
A butterfly breaks upon the wheel
A compass and a cap
A sing-song and a scrap
A dotted line across the map

All your week you were someone's slave
Today you're a free man
If they tell you you can't
Then you can
You can, you can, you can
You can, you can

Every five-barred gate my home
A place to call my own
Stone to boundary stone
For every footprint on the land
The banners and the banned
Who swayed the best-laid plans

All your week you were someone's slave
Today you're a free man
If they tell you you can't
Then you can
You can, you can, you can

Walking Into Battle With The Lord lyrics - Chumbawamba

A new crusade to the Holy Land
An army of men under my command
Fight the good fight here at home
Send those men to kingdom come

Take my aim with a higher will
Trust my Lord to hold me still
Say 'amen' and shoot to kill
Walking into battle with the Lord

With open arms on Judgement Day
Teach the children how to pray
Faithful, blind, we all believe
I was taught by Adam but I blame it on Eve

All my words in kindness came
Your souls in mercy to reclaim
Cleanse this world of sin and shame
Walking into battle with the Lord

Holy Father, Mother Tongue
Manna from heaven, right from wrong
Take my place on the witness stand
Trigger fingers, praying hands

When two men meet on the field of war
They both ask 'what are we fighting for?'
And haven't we heard this all before?
Walking into battle with the Lord

When Alexander Meets Emma lyrics - Chumbawamba

When Alexander met Emma
The first day she came to New York
Sachs's Cafe in Manhattan
Coffee and cigarettes and talk
Sun beating down on the East Side
Introductions are made in the haze
Emma, meet Alexander -
Emma just smiles as she says:

"Take my hand. I'll take yours.
Save my life. I'll save yours."

Life stretches loudly before her
From the Bowery to old Suffolk Street
A five dollar bill in her pocket
And a worldful of people to meet
Ships rigging up in the Hudson
Waiting for love to set sail
Emma she tells Alexander
"I'll be there when you walk from the jail"

"Take my hand. I'll take yours.
Save my life. I'll save yours."

Newspaper talk turns to headlines
A love so cemented in fame
A word to the strike-breaking bosses
Propaganda in deed and in name
Fourteen long years on the island
It's a lifetime of summers to wait
And Emma, she meets Alexander
As they unlock the last prison gate

"Take my hand. I'll take yours.
Save my life. I'll save yours."

Fade Away (I Don't Want To) lyrics - Chumbawamba

Some set their hearts on a rocking chair
The better to sleep out the days
But I'm looking for a reason to kick and scream
I don't want to fade away
Fade away, fade away
I don't want to fade away

We think that the power is in our hands
'Cos we're holding the remote control
Pile up the lot and what've you got?
Bitter-sweet nothing at all

It's a mighty long way from my own front door
To the world we were going to make
We got bloodied and bruised for the old excuse
That it's hard just staying awake

Wake me up if you catch me falling
Gently into the night
Shine up my shoes 'cos I can't get used
To the dying of the light

Some set their hearts on a rocking chair
The better to sleep out the days
But I'm looking for a reason to kick and scream
I don't want to fade away
Fade away, fade away
I don't want to fade away

Bankrobber lyrics - Chumbawamba

Daddy was a bankrobber
But he never hurt nobody
He just loved to live that way
And he loved to steal your money

Some is rich and some is poor
And that's the way the world is
But I don't believe in lying back
And sayin' how bad your luck is

Daddy was a bankrobber
But he never hurt nobody
He just loved to live that way
And he loved to steal your money

So we came to jazz it up
We never loved a shovel
Break your back to earn your pay
An' don't forget to grovel

Daddy was a bankrobber
But he never hurt nobody
He just loved to live that way
And he loved to steal your money

Imagine if all the boys in jail
Could get out now together
Whadda you think they'd want to say to us
While we was being clever

Daddy was a bankrobber
But he never hurt nobody
He just loved to live that way
And he loved to steal your money

Daddy was a bankrobber
But he never hurt nobody
He just loved to live that way
And he loved to steal your money

Learning To Love - Chumbawamba

I courted a man from the Lancs Fusiliers
He gave me his heart and so I loved him dear
For he took me a-courting and he taught me to dance
Then he marched with the infantry over to France

He told me to wait he'd be back in a year
Now seventeen months I have wished he were here
And I'll wait no longer, I'll take what I can
So I'm learning to love with another young man

Learning to love
Learning to love
Tired of the waiting
I'm learning to love

So I courted a man from the Royal Horse Blues
He soon had to leave and I said I'd be true
Now he's gone for his duty not seven weeks yet
So I've found a new young man to help me forget

I courted a man from the Kent Volunteer
Now he's gone a-marching, and I wish he were here
What can I do while my love is away?
But court with a soldier from the Royal Scots Grey

One day they'll come back and then I'll be true
For I've learnt how to love and I've learnt how to choose
To every young woman who waits at the shore
Love while you're waiting; you'll learn so much more

The Land Of Do What You're Told lyrics - Chumbawamba

Have a word with your Patron Saint
Cover up the cracks with a lick of paint
All The exit doors are all double-locked
Because St Sebastian sways but doesn't rock

Here's to you - you put up a fight
You're the last to leave, now turn out the light
You danced to the Devil and the Feathery wife
Now the Ordnance Survey is mapping out your life

Look at the small print: it's what we agreed -
Sign your name before we teach you how to read
This is the land, the Land of Do What You're Told
The Land of the Free: if you don't leave the fold
Smile a little wider as you're waiting to be sold
This is the land, the Land of Do What You're Told

I'm a celebrity - let me in here
One last jump from the end of the pier
We breached the wall, but I was too tired to run
My Get Up And Go got up and now it's gone

Look at the small print: it's what we agreed -
Sign your name before we teach you how to read
This is the land, the Land of Do What You're Told
The Land of the Free: if you don't leave the fold
Smile a little wider as you're waiting to be sold
This is the land, the Land of Do What You're Told

This is the land, the Land of Do What You're Told
With a little lip service to breaking the mold
Smile a little wider as you're waiting to be sold
This is the land, the Land of Do What You're Told

We're going on strike for twelve percent
We're not downhearted yet
They're filming it all for a reality show
So twelve percent we'll get

Bella Ciao lyrics - Chumbawamba

The world is waking outside my window
Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
Drags my senses into the sunlight
For there are things that I must do

Wish me luck now, I have to leave you
Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
With my friends now up to the city
We're going to shake the Gates of Hell

And I will tell them - we will tell them
Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
That our sunlight is not for franchise
And wish the bastards drop down dead

Next time you see me I may be smiling
Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
I'll be in prison or on the TV
I'll say, "the sunlight dragged me here!"
Stamattina mi sono alzato
Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao

Smith And Taylor lyrics - Chumbawamba

Built with lives
Remembered in plans
A history of no-ones:
For the glory of just one man

Should Smith now fall
Then Taylor takes his place
We're measuring our progress
By burying our waste

Pyramids, palaces
Railways and mills
Viaducts, offices
Pipelines and canals

Bells for the architect
Ringing through the land
A hundred honest men to wash
The inkstains from his hands

For the forging of words
Comes easy as sleep
Stones for Smith & Taylor
Their memories to keep

Every maiden voyage
Leaves a widow on the shore
And every blessed spire
Sees the earth get its reward

The Untraditional lyrics - Chumbawamba

I meet my love under the stars
So far from watching eyes
Five long years we've met this way
My love, the night and I

So much in love we walked 'til dawn
Far away from city walls
In forest shelter-covered field
A flower blooms as darkness falls

This love so bold goes undeclared
A joy unseen, a world unknown
A love that dare not speak its name
Hidden treasure, precious stone

My lover's hand is wrapped in mine
Hidden always from the day
Across this meeting draws a veil
The age of reason turns away

For we two men go on and on
And my love walks next to me
And in some far off place I know
That I'll love may shameless be

"Un" (2004)

• The Wizard Of Menlo Park lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Just Desserts lyrics - Chumbawamba
• On eBay lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Everything You Know Is Wrong lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Be With You lyrics - Chumbawamba
• When Fine Society Sits Down To Dine lyrics - Chumbawamba
• A Man Walks Into A Bar lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Buy Nothing Day lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Following You lyrics - Chumbawamba
• We Don't Want To Sing Along lyrics - Chumbawamba
• I Did It For Alfie lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Rebel Code lyrics - Chumbawamba

The Wizard Of Menlo Park lyrics - Chumbawamba

Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow
And everywhere that Mary went the lamb was sure to go

Old Thomas Edison, mixing up the medicine
Messing up time from Accrington to Amazon
See them all come with their wires and booms
And their itchy little thumbs saying, "play your funky drum"

Each jump in the dark we claim as our own
We know it's a lie, we never acted alone
Each jump in the dark
Each jump in the dark

The machine became the star, beats to the bar
Poor Gus Dudgeon lying in his car
Down in the basement messing with the moment
Alchemy and elements, smashing up your instruments
Old Thomas Edison mixing up the medicine
Messing up time from Accrington to Amazon
See them all come with their wires and booms
And their itchy little thumbs saying, "play your funky drum"

A foot in the past, a head in a book
A soup of opinion, a ladle of luck
Each jump in the dark
Each jump in the dark

Old Thomas Edison mixing up the medicine
Messing up time from Accrington to Amazon
See them all come with their wires and booms
And their itchy little thumbs saying, "play your funky drum"

From starlight to flashlight, sorting out the copyright
It takes a little time but the contract's airtight
Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
The money's in the black but the needle's in the red

One, two, one, two, check,
Wednesday, Wednesday, Mississippi, yeah...

Old Thomas Edison mixing up the medicine
Messing up time from Accrington to Amazon
See them all come with their wires and booms
And their itchy little thumbs saying, "play your funky drum"

Just Desserts lyrics - Chumbawamba

And uh, uh, every (security) (no, let him stay) no (let him stay) well at least it's a fruit pie
(let's pray for him right now, Anita, let's pray, Anita, why don't you pray, that's all right) father, we want to thank you for the opportunity of coming to Des Moines, and father I want to ask that you forgive him (and that we love him) and that we love him, and that we're praying for him to be delivered from his deviant lifestyle, father

See them scramble to the top
Watch them fall from grace
Never trust a man
With egg on his face

Groucho Marxists look so sweet
Slapstick anarchists, nice enough to eat
Peter Kropotkin in the way we talk
Charlie Cairoli in the way we walk

See them scramble to the top
Watch them fall from grace
Never trust a man
With egg on his face

Intellectual tarts with a good left hook
Copycat killers, cover and duck
Polite assassins, you shout, I scream
And the party starts, on a count of one, two, three

See them scramble to the top
Watch them fall from grace
Never trust a man
With egg on his face

We talk without words, and everybody understands
Just desserts, delivered by hand
Nobody move or the CEO
Gets it in the face with cream and dough

See them scramble to the top
Watch them fall from grace
Never trust a man
With egg on his face

See them scramble to the top
Watch them fall from grace
Never trust a man
With egg on his face

See them scramble to the top
Watch them fall from grace
Never trust a man
With egg on his face

"What? What's that? Who's there? Fido? Ahhh, it's you Mrs. Arbuthnot"

On eBay lyrics - Chumbawamba

Mr Kokoschka, it just happened again (sad, so sad)
They struck the museum like a hurricane (sad, so sad)
All of our culture, it's dead and it's gone (sad, so sad)
From Babylon, baby, back to Babylon (sad, so sad)

There's stuff you find along the way and stuff you leave behind
And it all ends up as stuff that you can buy
On eBay, from Babylon back to Babylon
On eBay, from Babylon back to Babylon

In old Baghdad, they're dusting off the antiques (sad, so sad)
It's the fourteenth Guernica we've had this week (sad, so sad)
I got twenty-five dollars for a Persian vase (sad, so sad)
Hold the critique, I think I'll go large (sad, so sad)

That stuff inside your houses and that stuff behind your eyes
Well, it all ends up as stuff that you can buy
On eBay, from Babylon back to Babylon
On eBay, from Babylon back to Babylon

They're building a tower out of wrappers and cans (sad, so sad)
Now we speak in a language that we all understand (sad, so sad)
T-t-t-t-toungue-tied and starry-eyed (sad, so sad)
It's the ancient history of old school ties (sad, so sad)

There's stuff dressed up as truth and then there's stuff dressed up as lies
And it all ends up as stuff that you can buy
On eBay, from Babylon back to Babylon
On eBay, from Babylon back to Babylon
On eBay, from Babylon back to Babylon
On eBay, from Babylon back to Babylon
On eBay, from Babylon back to Babylon
On eBay, from Babylon back to Babylon

Everything You Know Is Wrong lyrics - Chumbawamba

It's like the time that this, uh, minister in Indiana claimed that the theme song for Mr. Ed, that old television show (yeah) about the talking horse (mmhmm), if you played the Mr. Ed theme song backwards it said "Satan is the source"

Misinformation
Misinformation

Taking scissors to play (beep) with the black vote down in Flordia
Coloured pens and (beep) for sexing up the (beep)
I'm the someone who knew (beep) and I'm telling pre-September
I lean on (beep) in the loop to help them un-remember

I was flying on UA 93
That shadow in the footage, it was probably me
I'm the rumour, I'm the doubt, I'm the lie
But you wouldn't stand near me if you didn't want to die

Everything you know is wrong (misinformation)
There's a verse missing out of this song (misinformation)
Everything you know is wrong (misinformation)
Wrong wrong, wrong wrong

I was there when they landed on the moon
In a studio in Kentucky in June
I've got Kennedy's brain in a jar
If you knew what I knew, you wouldn't laugh so hard

Everything you know is wrong (misinformation)
There's a verse missing out of this song (misinformation)
Everything you know is wrong (misinformation)
Wrong wrong, wrong wrong

In the canteen down at Columbine with the bags they never found
Striking matches up at Waco when they burned it to the ground
Without me Oklahoma wasn't possible at all
See my silhouette in the Super 8, around the grassy knoll

Everything you know is wrong (misinformation)
There's a verse missing out of this song (misinformation)
Everything you know is wrong (misinformation)
Wrong wrong, wrong wrong

Everything you know is wrong (misinformation)
There's a missing out of this song (misinformation)
Everything you know is wrong (misinformation)
Wrong wrong, wrong wrong

Roger flight, we're go, he's got some, uh, nice elevated rings, which we expected, and, uh, he's really speeded it up but he looks great, let's go

Wrong wrong
Wrong wrong
Wrong wrong

I was in Paris in the underpass (wrong wrong)
I'm the FO sponsored super-grass (wrong wrong)
I'm Charlie Thrush in Minnesota (wrong wrong)
And I smuggled hep across the border (wrong wrong)
Stole Danny Casolaro's memoirs (wrong wrong)
Out the acid in the reservoirs (wrong wrong)
I'm Ron Brown's body on a T-43 (wrong wrong)
And I hid those missing WMDs (wrong wrong)

What did the president know, when did he know it?

Everything you know is, everything you know
Everything you know is, everything you know
Everything you know is, everything you know
Everything you know is, everything you know

Be With You lyrics - Chumbawamba

The future glints like the moon on an old slate roof
And everything you say sounds like the truth
The things you did made half my dreams come true
And I wanted to be with you
And I wanted to be with you

Sing your songs of what could be
Of all the things you brought back home to me

And I wonder what the papers are going to say
Another actress, another war, another day
But everything's changed, the world woke up today
And I wanted to be with you
And I wanted to be with you

Sing your songs of what could be
Draw the world for those who couldn't see

And I wanted to be with you

When Fine Society Sits Down To Dine lyrics - Chumbawamba

With her friends on a road less travelled
On a journey of do's and dares
Looking back on a fear of leaving
And forgetting how it felt to be scared
There are those paying fancy prices
To pretend they have fancy lives
But at every charity banquet
The majority stay outside

We play to a packed gallery
We smile for the CCTV
We're making our own history
When fine society sits down to dine
Remember that someone is pissing in the wine
Pissing in the wine, pissing in the wine
Remember that someone is pissing in the wine

She'd love to be dancing the tango
And she traces the steps in her mind
You can tell by the snap of her fingers
That she moves to a different time
Where all the quiet submission
Is smeared in lipstick red
And every act is a crime of passion
"That's not all she wrote," she said
"That's not all she wrote," she said
"That's not all she wrote," she said
"That's not all she wrote," she said

We play to a packed gallery
We smile for the CCTV
We're making our own history
When fine society sits down to dine
Remember that someone is pissing in the wine
Pissing in the wine, pissing in the wine
Remember that someone is pissing in the wine

When fine society sits down to dine
Remember that someone is pissing in the wine
Pissing in the wine, pissing in the wine
Remember that someone is pissing in the wine

When fine society sits down to dine
Remember that someone is pissing in the wine
Pissing in the wine, pissing in the wine
Remember that someone is pissing in the wine

A Man Walks Into A Bar lyrics - Chumbawamba

A man walks into a bar, he says, "Give me a Bacardi and Coke!"
The Back o' Beyond Repair welcomes the broken and the broke
Blather hitches a ride on the back of second-hand smoke
And the man, well, he'll be the punchline in someone else's joke

I'll beat this drink, it's a habit I'll kick
Please help me now, I'm gonna be sick
Something hit me, I wound up on the floor
Damn this Bacardi, I don't want any more

A man walks into a think-tank full of hooch and future sales
Mixing wish lists with extention plans re: Guantanamo jail
Smell the solid beech, and a whiff of cannot fail
And a gilt-tray chock with goblets dripping cut-throat cocktails

And they drink a toast to Florida and all its air-conditioned hum
And they damn the health of Cuba and they damn its bona fide rum
He sucks a kalamata olive, spits out the stone
And he mimics crushing people between forefinger and thumb

I'll beat this drink, it's a habit I'll kick
Please help me now, I'm gonna be sick
Something hit me, I wound up on the floor
Damn this Bacardi, I don't want any more

The first man wakes up in the same bar, but it's different, as in a dream
In fact it's someone else's dream, clean sheets and new regime
Fidel burns as Nero roams, "Give the bar a zip code!"
"See you..." "Si... C.U.", and it's one more for the road

I'll beat this drink, it's a habit I'll kick
Please help me now, I'm gonna be sick
Something hit me, I wound up on the floor
Damn this Bacardi, I don't want any more

Buy Nothing Day lyrics - Chumbawamba

I woke up this morning, my temperature high (buy, buy, buy)
"I'll never buy nothing again," I lied (buy, buy, buy)
My doctor, he told me to stay out of town (buy, buy, buy)
He said, "affluenza will get you down" (buy, buy, buy)

What did you do in the war, dad? What did you do in the war?
Ring up the tills in the High Street, I'm not coming in anymore

There's a price tag on me and there's sick on the floor (buy, buy, buy)
We're buying up anything we can't afford (buy, buy, buy)
Wherever I go, I keep hearing this voice (buy, buy, buy)
Saying "choose what you want" but there's so little choice (buy, buy, buy)

What did you do in the war, dad? What did you do in the war?
Ring up the tills in the High Street, I'm not coming in anymore

Give it a rest

There's dumb moves behind me and bad debts above (buy, buy, buy)
I pawned my affections and still got no love (buy, buy, buy)
My heart and my pocket will say it's unfair (buy, buy, buy)
I'm unlearning the cost of this laissez-faire (buy, buy, buy)

What did you do in the war, dad? What did you do in the war?
Ring up the tills in the High Street, I'm not coming in anymore
What did you do in the war, dad? What did you do in the war?
Ring up the tills in the High Street, I'm not coming in anymore

November twenty-three is buy nothing day

Following You lyrics - Chumbawamba

Lilac growing up the walls
This sunny afternoon is ours, after all
The sip, sip, sip of the dripping tap
Raise the pirate flag and laugh

This town, as ugly as sin
Hidden from our secret garden
We make it up as we go along
Sometimes it turns into a song, this song

Don't ask me what needs doin'
When there is so much to do
Don't ask me where I'm goin'
'Cause I'm just followin' you, followin' you

We took back this bit of space
And made it into a different place
Now there's a promise in your eyes
And there'll be breakfast when you rise

Don't ask me what needs doin'
When there is so much to do
Don't ask me where I'm goin'
'Cause I'm just followin' you, followin' you

Don't ask me what needs doin'
When there is so much to do
Don't ask me where I'm goin'
'Cause I'm just followin' you, followin' you

We Don't Want To Sing Along lyrics - Chumbawamba

Tap, tap, tap in the chatrooms
We're learning how to make a bomb
Hmm, well whatever
We don't want to sing along

We don't want to sing along
We don't want to sing along
We know every word to the song
But we don't want to sing along

Oh Marilyn, she'll desert me
Telling me I was wrong
She's all lipstick and instinct for money
But we don't want to sing along

We don't want to sing along
We don't want to sing along
We know every word to the song
But we don't want to sing along

Listen to the bullies singing
To prove that they all belong
You'd better watch your step, bully
'Cause we don't want to sing along

We don't want to sing along
We don't want to sing along
We know every word to the song
But we don't want to sing along

We don't want to sing along
We don't want to sing along
We know every word to the song
But we don't want to sing along

We don't want to sing along
We don't want to sing along
We know every word to the song
But we don't want to sing along

I Did It For Alfie lyrics - Chumbawamba

Rejoice, just rejoice at that news
This girl has got the midlife blues
She lost her favourite marble again
It rolled down the nearest drain

A swing to the right and she's under attack
Much-sought-after property, completely detached
Plunging at the neck and daring at the back
And everybody says she looks better like that

Everybody says she looks better like that
Everybody says she looks better like that
Everybody says she looks better like that
Everybody says she looks better like that

Rejoice, just rejoice at that news
This girl was split completely in two
Trevor, knock me down with a feather
In the United Kingdom of Whatever

With a clean-cut center parting and a bloodrush to the head
"You won't get any older, dear," is what the stylist said
It's elegant bold and striking, she'll never need a hat
And everybody says she looks better like that

Everybody says she looks better like that
Everybody says she looks better like that
Everybody says she looks better like that
Everybody says she looks better like that

Alfie, I did it for Alfie
Alfie, I did it for Alfie
Alfie, I did it for Alfie

Rebel Code lyrics - Chumbawamba

Dreaming that you're quietly driving by
Waking, wiping sleep out of your eyes
Watching firry cocktails in the sky
Rebel code, rebel code

Huddled in the cellars underground
They're tapping out a code to bring you down
Hacking into every home in town
Rebel code, rebel code

One mic (one mic), three chords (three chords), our memories stored
Rebel code
One song (one song), two words (two words), no chance to get bored
Rebel code

Stalin waits forever at the gate
We simplify, we complicate
The urge to break, the need to recreate
Rebel code, rebel code

Changing everything that they were taught
Alcohol and fire and ones and noughts
Something in the water and the bones
Rebel code, rebel code

One mic (one mic), three chords (three chords), our memories stored
Rebel code
One song (one song), two words (two words), no chance to get bored
Rebel code

"English Rebel Songs 1381-1984" (2003)

• The Cutty Wren lyrics - Chumbawamba
• The Diggers Song lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Colliers March lyrics - Chumbawamba
• The Triumph Of General Ludd lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Chartist Anthem lyrics - Chumbawamba
• The Bad Squire lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Song On The Times lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Smashing The Van lyrics - Chumbawamba
• The World Turned Upside Down lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Poverty Knock lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Idris Strike Song lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Hanging On The Old Barbed Wire lyrics - Chumbawamba
• Coal Not Dole lyrics - Chumbawamba

The Cutty Wren lyrics - Chumbawamba

Oh where are you going? said Milder to Moulder
Oh we may not tell you! said Festel to Fose
We're off to the wood! said John the Red Nose
We're off to the wood! said John the Red Nose
And what will you do there? said Milder to Moulder
Oh we may not tell you! said Festel to Fose
We'll shoot the cutty wren! said John the Red Nose
We'll shoot the cutty wren! said John the Red Nose
Oh how will you cut him up? said Milder to Moulder
Oh we may not tell you! said Festel to Fose
With knives and with forks! said John the Red Nose
With knives and with forks! said John the Red Nose
And who´ll get the spare ribs? said Milder to Moulder
Oh we may not tell you! said Festel to Fose
We'll give them all to the poor! said John the Red Nose
We'll give them all to the poor! said John the Red Nose

The Diggers Song lyrics - Chumbawamba

You noble diggers all stand up now, stand up now
You noble diggers all stand up now
The wasteland to maintain sin [?] cavaliers by name
Your digging does maintain and persons all defame
Stand up now, stand up now
Your houses they pull down stand up now, stand up now
Your houses they pull down, stand up now
Your houses they pull down to fright your men in town
But the gentry must come down and the poor shall wear the crown
Stand up now diggers all
With spades and hoes and plows stand up now, stand up now
With spades and hoes and plows, stand up now
Your freedom to uphold sin [?] cavaliers are bold
To kill you if they could and rights from you to hold
Stand up now diggers all
The gentry are all round stand up now, stand up now
The gentry are all round stand up now
The gentry are all round on each side the are found
Their wisdom so profound to cheat us of our ground
Stand up now stand up now
The lawyers they conjoin stand up now stand up now
The lawyers they conjoin stand up now
To rescue they advise, such fury they devise, the devil in them lies
And hath blinded both their eyes
Stand up now, stand up now
The clergy they come in stand up now, stand up now
The clergy they come in stand up now
The clergy they come in and say it is a sin
That we should now begin our freedom for to win
Stand up now diggers all
'Gainst lawyers and 'gainst priests stand up now stand up now
'Gainst lawyers and 'gainst priests stand up now
For tyrants they are both, even flat against their oath
To grant us they are loathe free meat and drink and cloth
Stand up now diggers all
The club is all their law, stand up now stand up now
The club is all their law, stand up now
The club is all their law, to keep all men in awe
That they no vision saw to maintain such a law
Stand up now diggers all

Colliers March lyrics - Chumbawamba

The summer was over the season unkind
In harvest a snow, how uncommon to find
The times were oppressive and well it be known
That hunger will stronger [?] fences break down
'Twas then from theirselves the black gentry stepped out
With bludgeons determined to stir up a rout
The prince of the party who revelled from home
Was a terrible fellow and called Irish Thom
He brandished his bludgeon with dexterous skill
And close to his elbow was placed Bonny [?] Will
Their instantly followed a numerous train
As cheerful as bold Robin Hood's merry men
Sworn to remedy a capital fault
And bring down the exorbitant price of the malt
From Dudley to Walso [?] they trippet [?] along
And Hampton was truly alarmed at the throng
Women and children wherever they go
Shouting out 'Oh the brave Dudley boys! Oh!'
With nailers and spinners the cavalcade joined
The markets to lower their flattering design
Six days out of seven poor nailing boys get
Little else at their meals but potatos to eat
For bread hard they labor, good things never carve
And swore 'twere as well to be hanged as to starve
Such other feelings in every land
Nothing necessities coal can withstand
And riots are certain to sadden the year
When six penny loaves are three pound as up here

The Triumph Of General Ludd lyrics - Chumbawamba

No more chant your old rhymes about old Robin Hood
His feats I do little admire
I'll sing the achievements of General Ludd
Now the hero of Nottinghamshire.

Brave Ludd was to measures of violence unused
'till his sufferings became so severe
That at last to defend his own interest he rose
And for the great fight did prepare.

The guilty may fear but no vengeance he aims
At the honest man's life or estate
His wrath is entirely confined to wide frames
And to those that would prices abate.

Those engines of mischief were sentenced to die
By unanimous vote of the trade
And Ludd who can all opposition defy
Was the grand executioner made.

And when in the work he destruction employs
Himself to no method confines
By fire and by water he gets them destroyed
For the elements aid his designs.

Whether guarded by soldiers along the highway
Or closely secured in a room
He shivers them up by night and by day
And nothing can soften their doom.

Ye may censure great Ludd's disrespect for the laws
Who ne'er for a moment reflects
That foul imposition alone was the cause
Which produced these unhappy effects.

Let the haughty the humble no longer oppress
Then shall Ludd sheath his conquering sword
His grievances instantly meet with redress
Then peace shall be quickly restored.

Let the wise and the great lend their aid and advice
Nor e'er their assistance withdraw
Till full-fashioned work at the old-fashioned price
Is established by custom and law.

Then the trade when this arduous contest is o'er
Shall raise in full splendor its head
And colting and cutting and swearing no more
Shall deprive all his workers of bread.

Chartist Anthem lyrics - Chumbawamba

A hundred years, a thousand years, we're marching on the road
The going isn't easy yet, we've got a heavy load, oh we've got a heavy load
The way is blind with blood and sweat, and death sings in our ears
But time is marching on our side, we will defeat the years, oh we will defeat the years
We men of bone of shrunken shank, our only treasure doth,
Women who carry at their breast heirs to the hungry earth, oh heirs to the hungry earth
Speak with one voice, we march, we rest, and march again upon the years
Sons of our sons are listening to hear the Chartist cheers
Oh, to hear the Chartists cheers

The Bad Squire lyrics - Chumbawamba

The merry brown hares came a-leaping
Over the crest of the hill
Where the clover and corn lay a-sleeping
Under the moonlight so still
Leaping so late and so early
‘Till under their bite and their tread
The swedes and the wheat and the barley
Lay cankered and trampled and dead

A poacher's poor widow sat sighing
On the side of the moss-patterned bank
Where under the gloom of the fir-woods
One acre of ground laying rank
She watched over barely grown clover
Where rabbit or hare never ran
For the ground that it all covered over
Hid the blood of a good murdered man

She thought of the shaded plantation
And the hares and her husband's own blood
And the voice of her own indignation
Rose up to the throne of her God
There's blood on your new foreign shrubs, Squire
There's blood on your pointer's cold feet
There's blood on the game that you sell Squire
And there's blood on the game that you eat

You have sold out the labouring man, Squire
Both body and soul for to shame
To pay for your seat in the House, Squire
And to pay for the feed of your game
You made him a poacher yourself, Squire
When you'd give not the work nor the meat
And your barley-fed hares robbed the garden
At our starving poor little one's feet

When packed into one tiny chamber
Man, mother and little ones lay
While the rain pattered in on our bride bed
And the walls barely held out the day
When we lay in the heat of the fever
On the mud and the clay of the floor
‘Till you parted us all for three months, Squire
And we knocked at the working house door

So to kennels and liveried varlets
Where you starved your own daughter of bread
And worn out with liquor and harlots
See your heirs at your feet lying dead
When you follow them into your heaven
And your soul rots asleep in the grave
Then Squire, you will not be forgiven
By the free men you took as your slaves

Song On The Times lyrics - Chumbawamba

You working men of England one moment now attend
While I unfold the treatment of the poor upon this land
For nowadays the factory lords have brought the labour low
And daily are contriving plans to prove our overthrow

So arouse! You sons of freedom! The world seems upside down
They scorn the poor man as a thief in country and in town

There's different parts in Ireland, it's true what I do state
There's hundreds that are starving for they can't get food to eat
And if they go unto the rich to ask them for relief
They bang their door all in their face as if they were a thief

So arouse! You sons of freedom! The world seems upside down
They scorn the poor man as a thief in country and in town

Alas how altered are the times, rich men despise the poor
And pay them off without remorse, quite scornful at their door
And if a man is out of work his Parish pay is small
Enough to starve himself and wife, his children and all

So arouse! You sons of freedom! The world seems upside down
They scorn the poor man as a thief in country and in town

So to conclude and finish these few verses I have made
I hope to see before it's long men for their labour paid
Then we'll rejoice with heart and voice and banish all our woes
Before we do old England must pay us what she owes

So arouse! You sons of freedom! The world seems upside down
They scorn the poor man as a thief in country and in town

Smashing The Van lyrics - Chumbawamba

Attend you gallant Irishmen and listen for a while
I'll sing to you the praises of the sons of Erin's Isle
It's of those gallant heroes who voluntarily ran
To release two Irish shamrocks from an English prison van
The eighteenth of September it was in that dreadful year
When sorrow and excitement ran throughout all Lancashire
At a gathering of the Irish boys they volunteered each man
To release those Irish prisoners out of the prison van

[Chorus]
Hurrah! My lads for freedom
Let's all join heart and hand
May the Lord have mercy on the boys
That helped to smash the van

In Manchester one morning those good heroes did agree
Their leaders, Kelly and Deasy, should have their liberty
They drank a health to Ireland and soon made up a plan
To meet the prisoners on the road and take and smash the van

[Chorus]

With courage bold those heroes went and soon the van did stop
They cleared the guards from back and front and then smashed in the top
But in blowing open of the lock they chanced to kill a man
So three men must die on the scaffold high for smashing of the van

[Chorus]

So now kind friends I will conclude I think it would be right
That all true hearted Irish men together should unite
Together should sympathise my friends and do the best we can
To keep the memories evergreen of the boys that smashed the van

[Chorus]

The World Turned Upside Down lyrics - Chumbawamba

Through eating too much supper
Before I went to bed
Strange thoughts came o'er my slumber
Strange thoughts came in my head

This world was topsy-turvy
And people of renown
Were doing the most peculiar things
As they world turned upside down

I dreamt all men were equal
And there were no starving poor
And nations never did quarrel
Nor never went to war

I dreamt all men were angels
And women ne'er wore a frown
Old maids they had large families
As the world turned upside down

Poverty Knock lyrics - Chumbawamba

[Chorus]
'Poverty poverty knock,' my loom is a saying all day
Poverty poverty knock, gaffer's too skinny to pay
Poverty poverty knock, keeping one eye on the clock
I know I can guttle when I hear my shuttle go, 'poverty poverty knock'
Up every morning at five, I wonder that we keep alive
Tired and yawning another cold morning
It's back to the dreary old drive.
[Repeat chorus]
Oh dear we're going to be late
Gaffer is stood at the gate
We're out of pocket, our wages they'll docket
We'll have to buy grub on the slate
[Repeat chorus]
And when our wages they bring, we're often short of a string
While we are fighting with gaffer for snatching
We know to his brass he will cling
[Repeat chorus]
Sometimes a shuttle flies out
and gives some poor woman a clout
There she lies bleeding but nobody's heeding
Oh who's going to carry her out?
[Repeat chorus]
Oh dear, my poor head it sings
I should have woven three strings
My threads are breaking and my back is aching
Oh dear, I wish I had wings
Poverty poverty knock
Poverty poverty knock
Poverty poverty knock

Idris Strike Song lyrics - Chumbawamba

Have you been to work at Idris?
No we won't go in today!
For we're standing by our comrade
And we'll never run away
She stood bravely by the Union
And she spoke up for us true
And if she gets the sack
No we never shall go back
What e'er they do, what e'er they do
Now you boys who're washing bottles
It really is a shame
To take the place of women
Don't you think you are to blame?
Come with us and join the Union
Never heed what Idris say
We are out to right the wrong
And now we shan't be long
Hip hip hooray, hip hip hooray
Master Willy, master Willy
You must give in once again
It was wrong to sack a woman
With two children to maintain
Thirteen years she's faithful served you
Though she was three minutes late
But our little sister Anne
Why she never checked the man
At the gate, at the gate
Oh you great king in the palace
And you statesman at the top
When you're drinking soda water
Or imbibing ginger pop
Think of some who work at Idris
For very little pay
And who only get nine bob
For a most unpleasant job
Alackaday, alackaday
Now then girls all join the Union
Whatever you may be
In pickles, jam, or chocolates
Or packing pounds of tea
For we all want better wages
And this is what we say
'We are out to right the wrong'
'And now we shan't be long'
'Hip hip hooray, hip hip hooray'

Hanging On The Old Barbed Wire lyrics - Chumbawamba

If you want to find the general
I know where he is
I know where he is
I know where he is
If you want to find the general
I know where he is
He's pinning another medal on his chest
I saw him, I saw him
Pinning another medal on his chest
Pinning another medal on his chest
If you want to find the colonel
I know where he is
I know where he is
I know where he is
If you want to find the colonel
I know where he is
He's sitting in comfort stuffing his bloody gut
I saw him, I saw him
Sitting in comfort stuffing his bloody gut
If you want to find the seargent

I know where he is
I know where he is
I know where he is
If you want to find the seargent
I know where he is
He's drinking all the company rum
I saw him, I saw him
Drinking all the company rum
Drinking all the company rum
If you want to find the private
I know where he is
I know where he is
I know where he is
If you want to find the private
I know where he is
He's hanging on the old barbed wire
I saw him, I saw him
Hanging on the old barbed wire
Hanging on the old barbed wire

Coal Not Dole lyrics - Chumbawamba

They stand so proud, the wheels so still
A ghost-like figure on the hill
It seems so strange there is no sound
Now there are no men underground
What will become of this pit yard?
Where men once trampled faces hard
So tired and weary their shift's done
Never having seen the sun
There'll always be a happy hour
For those with money, jobs and power
They'll never realise the hurt
They cause to men they treat like dirt
Will it become a sacred ground?
Foreign tourists gazing round
Asking if men once worked here
Way beneath this pit-head gear
Empty trucks once filled with coal
Lined up like men on the dole
Will they ever be used again?
Or left for scrap just like the men?
There'll always be a happy hour
For those with money, jobs and power
They'll never realise the hurt
They cause to men they treat like dirt