"Slap!" (1990)




Ulrike lyrics - Chumbawamba

[Chorus]
You sometimes wonder and you sometimes wonder
Ten thousand Deutschmarks to hand me over
Oh you sometimes wonder and you sometimes wonder
You can make a living sometimes wondering
Don't think these bones can be sold when I'm long gone
Don't think that I should want to sell my soul for the Sundays
Don't wait for me to say I'm sorry--I won't
Who wants to be a green MP? I don't

[Repeat chorus]

Wise men say only fools rush in
But I can't help falling in love with you
Don't think I walked into banks to stand in the queue
Don't think I pressed up to the plexi-glass just to talk to you
Don't wait for me to say I'm sorry - I won't
Who wants to be a green MP? - I don't

[Repeat chorus]

Tiananmen Square lyrics - Chumbawamba

Heads bowed, eyes down, here comes the enemy
To hail the people's victory! Which people? What victory?
It's the People's Army that murdered the people
They've come to glue the shattered, battered statues in the square
Heads bowed, eyes down, here comes the enemy
With a haircut and a trigger-finger, that could be me!
Tanks tearing a hole in the silence
I've got armor-piercing rockets in my pocket--watch out!
[Chatter]
You must've seen it, the boy in the white shirt

You want a fight? Yeah, you and whose army?
The people is bigger than the People's Army
My dad is bigger than your dad, and one day, one day
Raw and angry in front of the enemy
So it's turn back or kill. Boy versus tank
You want a fight? Yeah, you and whose army?
Here soldier, have a watermelon--this'll cool you down!

Cartrouble lyrics - Chumbawamba

Big tall courthouse, a clock upon the wall
A hammer on the table and a copper on the door
A judge in front and a jury at the side
A judge in front and a jury at the side
A judge in front and a jury at the side
And a Bible on the stand to say I won't tell lies
Well it's one o'clock, two o'clock, any old o'clock
Between the rock and roll devil and the fear of god
Big brotherly love runs shallow as skin
In the deep south of America
Can the lady take the stand now? Blah, blah, blah
And how comes a black woman drives her own car?
And what gives you the constitutional right
And what gives you the constitutional right
And what gives you the constitutional right
To drive a car through a junction on a red stop light?

Well it's one o'clock, two o'clock, any old o'clock
Between the rock and roll devil and the fear of god
Big brotherly love runs shallow as skin
In the deep south of Yorkshire
Well of course I drove the car through a red stop light
But well, I thought that law was just for whites
I saw the white folks drive through on green
I say, I saw the white folks drive through on green
I say, I saw the white folks drive through on green
So when the red light flashed, I thought this must be for me
Well it's one o'clock, two o'clock, any old o'clock
Just a fear of the people with a fear of god
Lancashire white girl tries to sing the blues
Well, I woke up this morning like I usually do

Chase PC's Flee Attack By Own Dog lyrics - Chumbawamba

(Woof, woof, woof, woooo)
Got my photograph taken with Elvis
Circled round the earth in a rocket ship
Found the world cup in a garden
And I must've saved a million drowning babies
You can imagine what a come down

Drug-busts and house fires
I didn't orbit the earth to be bossed around
By someone wearing flares!
Ain't nothin', ain't nothin', ain't nothin' but a hound dog
Ain't nothin', ain't nothin', ain't nothin' but a hound dog
Ain't nothin', ain't nothin', ain't nothin'

Rubens Has Been Shot! lyrics - Chumbawamba

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree
How bent your branches seem to be
Nineteen twenty-one and all's well
Another fifteen years and we'll be laughing in hell
One bullet straight through the heart
Rubens caught a ricochet, Durer's lady cried today
Cracked old masters up against the wall

Blue-faced Wendy Woolworth--she's seen it all
Housepainter, housepainter
Hanging your swastika wallpaper
Rows of pretty cabbageheads to gobble up your words
Laughing along to your blah, blah, blah

Rappaport's Testament: I Never Gave Up lyrics - Chumbawamba

[Chorus]
And if you survive me
I Never gave up
Tell them this
I Never gave up
And if you survive me
I Never gave up
Tell them this
Almost as if I were planning ahead
I drank, I ate, I made love
I learnt to snatch whatever I could
I never asked for pity and I never gave up

[Repeat chorus]

Twenty months I kept accounts

And in the end they'll balance out
Sometimes I vomit happy memories
Sometimes I laugh out loud just to crack my face

[Repeat chorus]

And if I meet Hitler in the other place
I'll spit this precious soup in his face
And all my accounts will be settled, you see
'Cause Hitler never ever got the better of me

[Repeat chorus]

I never gave up, I never gave up
I crawled in the mud but I never gave up

[Repeat]

Slap! lyrics - Chumbawamba

One, two, three, four
Slap
Fleet Street fell in love
But the girl proved hard to get
Took a seat at the old boy's club
But wouldn't share the bed
Cuppas for the troops
Bubbly-gum and wire
Trojan horses, Black & Tans
They're running for their lives
Royals came to call

Mister Paisley save her soul
Heavens here's the naughty girl
Wouldn't say her prayers
Bloody Monday morning
The rat who did the talking
Here's Ginger to the rescue
Take that! And that!
Take that! And that!

That's How Grateful We Are lyrics - Chumbawamba

OK, this one's called "Whitewash"
When was the very first time you saw Chumbawamba?
In my dreams!
Ha!
Working in a forge, black lungs, burnt skin
Callouses, arched back, hammering, hammering
Stalin watching over us pigeon shit head
We'd spit on the floor at this red bastard god
That's how grateful we are
[Repeat]
Bronze statue, pink marble, built to last
We brought him to his knees in a single night
And the boots that remained I attacked, I attacked
Hammering, hammering, the past is past
That's how grateful we are
[Repeat]
Scrub away, scrub away
And the noise rang out, metal on metal
Pigeons flit, dust settled
Out from the shadows we took to the streets
David chopping at the giant's feet
That's how grateful we are
[Repeat]
OK, we're gonna take it right, right, right, right down, way down
What we need is a break from the old routine
[Repeat]
Can I kick it? Yes you can!
[Repeat]
There ain't no justice, just us
[Repeat]
OK, we've been doing this one quite a few nights running, but I'd like to take that one. Is that a yes? Which one, then?
Goodbye girl, goodbye girl...
Martin McLaren, Archer, Anais Nin...
Well, basically, Chumbawamba are the sort of metals of the pop world
The old groups, they're not concerned with what there is to be learned
They sell 501s and they think it's funny, turning rebellion into money
Can I kick it?
This songs become a bit irrelevant now, innit, we may as well just go off now. Couple of yous could just get up and we'll just fuck off. I'm into that man, you know, 'cause I've got a hot chocolate waiting for me back there. There's, uh, quite a bit of anti-Criminal Justice Bill sentiment down in front here. Excellent!
What we need is a break from the old routine
[Repeat]
You still want to come? Too late, too late
We're cut and we're fallen like harvested wheat
But we lived on our feet, at least, at last
And we will live on our feet, at least, at last
That's how grateful we are
[Repeat]
You still want to come? Too late, too late
We're cut and we're fallen like harvested wheat
But we lived on our feet, at least, at last
We will live on our feet, at least, at last
That's how grateful we are
That's how grateful
Ta

"Never Mind The Ballots" (1987)




Always Tell The Voter What The Voter Wants To Hear lyrics - Chumbawamba

Welcome to Never Mind The Ballots. The phone lines are now open. If you'd like
to put a question to the candidates the number to ring is 0532779463.

You want jobs? I've got jobs!
Hospitals? Top of my list!
Tax cuts and platform shoes
For every small businessman
Just give me your vote
Just give me your vote
Schools, prisons? Of course we'll build them!
Condoms for the American GIs!
Nuclear reactors breed like rabbits
Police oppression? You can have it, sir!
Just give me your vote
Put your cross in the box

Hello, we've got our first caller. You're name's Martin. Hello Martin.
You disagree with our statement policy.
Well Martin to tell you the truth I couldn't agree with you more. It's outrageous, disgusting
But unlike my colleague on my right, we're the party who say what we do, do what we say.
You can bank on us Mart!
Good evening, Shirley. I'm so glad that you've rung.
The matter is as dear to me as it is to you.
Give me four years and I'll get right down to it.
Because unlike my little balding colleague on my left, we don't make promises we can't keep.
You still there, Martin? Just one more thing. Give us your vote

You want houses? See me afterwards
Want my autograph? See my bodyguard
Pre-election budget handouts
You want a war? No problem!
Just give me your vote
Just give me your vote

Come On Baby (Let's Do The Revolution) lyrics - Chumbawamba

Come on baby
Let's do the revolution
Six for the record
And seven for the t-shirt
A picture of the band and a ticket for the promised land

Watching all the bouncers
Systematically beating up the dancers
To the rhythm of a pocket of change
Here's the group with all the answers
Vote for the party and keep your mouth shut!

Same chains of command
All the power taken out of our hands
Politics pays the piper in this company land

Come on baby
Let's do the revolution
They say we'll all be equal
When they take control
Vote for the party and wallow in our rock and roll

"Roadie! my guitar!"

The Wasteland lyrics - Chumbawamba

Said the party to the ad-man
We'll conjure up a gimmick
The way to lead an ass
Is with a carrot and a stick
Dig down for minorities
Promise them concessions
Ride in on their backs
And then teach them all a lesson
Unemployment means depression
You're just victims of the recession
We can count on their support
If we can channel their emotions
[Chorus]
Populate the wasteland
Between leisure and the grave
Work and pray and place your vote
And some day you'll be saved
All these myths come tailor-made
To suit the company director
Myths that praise the dignity
Of cheap, disposable labor
Two different routes
To an industrial heaven
Work for boss and parliament
And all will be forgiven
It's the fear of being sacked
That lets the boss step up the pace
Because the minute you step out of line
There's someone took your place
[Repeat chorus]
Said the MP to the media
Can't we juggle this around
Sprinkle sugar on the dog shit
And we'll keep the figures down
Never let the left hand
See what's in the right
No-one's any wiser
And the problem's out of sight
Take your democratic choice
Take a scheme or starve
Job clubs, restart, YTS, CPs, EAS
Company profits doubled
Wages chopped in half
[Repeat]
[Repeat chorus]
Offer your life to the one true church
In the name of the conservative party
The labor party
And the liberal alliance
The promised land where banks outnumber churches
And your cars shall be martyrs to the cause
Capitalism in crisis
But on the third day it shall rise again
But on the third day it shall rise

Today's Sermon lyrics - Chumbawamba

And now, the reverand Abraham Meakley- saver of souls
Though they broke my legs, they gave me a crutch to walk
Though they broke my legs, they gave me a crutch to walk
Though they broke my legs, they gave me a crutch to walk
Though they broke my legs, they gave me a crutch to walk
"Brothers and sisters, I have seen more than sinning. I have been away these
last 4 long years, but now I have returned to the fold, to be among my flock.
I come as humble shepard embodied by the almighty, the power above, the power
which is in me. Cos I am reborn brothers and sisters.
I am living proof that government saves!
Brothers and sisters, I want us to show our faith in the powers that be.
For we are the true belivers. I want us to come together, come to me and let us feel
the power of the cross. Todays lesson- stay in your homes exept on Thursdays,
do not stray from the path, it's well sign posted, you cant miss it really and were open all day.
Now there's no need to rush. We've got plenty of pencils for everyone. Now
there're collecting tins for your donation. Cheque, credit card facilities
available. "Government Saves!" stickers and badges on sale.
T-shirts in small, mediem and large, all at competative prices!
Put a down payment on your place in heaven and buy me another 4 years brothers and sisters.
Dance dance wherever you may be I am the lord of the dance said
he. And if you don't dance we have ways of making you dance. Government be with
you!"
Amen.

Ah-Men lyrics - Chumbawamba

A visionary pause in the cycle
When she refused to buy or sell
When the daughters of perfect wives
Said there must be more sacrifice
Needed more than symbolic change
More than silent wasting away
In factories and sterile marriages
He was God, she was powerless
With a brick for every year of life
She set out for the house of lies
The old boys' club under siege
His lordship cowered under his seat
Called for brandy and reinforcements
Blasted away at every movement
Close to breaking down the door
Past thick blue line and stupid laws
Black Friday left her bruised and stubborn
One brick from winning the struggle
Rapunzel hacked at the ivory tower
Asquith quickly rose to the hour
Appealed to patriotism, oily smiles
Gave nothing, called it compromise
Gauging the situation perfectly
Said ladies, ladies, listen to me
Nineteen fourteen, we're on the brink of war
Pick up a flag, drop your cause
Your targets are counter-revolutionary
Take my hand in democracy
Here's a piece of paper
You're officially free
Here's a list of instructions
For you to obey
And here's sharp knife
To cut your own throat
Small sacrifice in return for a vote
Whispered word in Pankhurst's ear
Visions of the first woman peer
Led women down the garden path
And into the arms of the enemy
Jail and force-feeding, waster martyrdom
Sold her songs for the national anthem
Slotted the smile back neatly into place
Served refreshments
At the end of the race
All demands reduced to a joke
X marks the plague, abandon hope
Butlers still pouring brandy for the rich
Excuse me pass me the privilege
A woman's voice, the state's idea
Same vested interests, same dirty deals
Currie and Williams immersed in the times
Examples to keep the rest in line
Currie and Williams two of a kind
Examples to keep the rest in line
Absolute power
Absolute power
Ladies, ladies, listen to me

Mr. Heseltine Meets His Public lyrics - Chumbawamba

Mr. Heseltine you drove into our town
The northern rain always drizzling down
Shoppers at the window stop to look
As you sign another copy of your book
'Cause you have all the power
And you have all the wealth
And we've got nothing but ourselves
We've got nothing but ourselves
We've got nothing but ourselves
So we'll do away with leaders, bosses and police
Reclaim our actions, rediscover our voices
Salvage our integrity, reassert our dignity
Power in the heart of the community
Mr. Heseltine listen to me
We don't want power
And we don't want money
We're fighting for the right to decide
How the power and the wealth
Be equally divided
Old people in Seacroft need money for bills
Single mums with kids want decent meals
And we all want new coats
When all's said and done
They're all worn out
From being walked upon
There comes a time when we organize
When we take control of our daily lives
When we don't obey orders from authority
When we disbelieve the myths of democracy
Democracy Street, Britain's longest running soap opera, with the added illusion of audience participation. Our act tonight, on the left, capitalism that's right, on the right, capitalism is it, in the middle, probably the best capitalism in the world. Remember it's your choice, your five seconds worth of action that counts. I mean that most sincerely folks. Sit tight, keep quiet, 'till the next time. The next time being one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five days away. If freedom is the choice between three different types of the same oppression then I'll take the one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five days. Never mind the ballots, here's the rest of your life.
Mr. Heseltine drove away
Two more appointments in the north today
Helpless and powerless
We join the queue for the metro bus
And Mr. Heseltine I've made up my mind
I'll never give support to you and your kind
[Repeat]

The Candidates Find Common Ground lyrics - Chumbawamba

Full employment, slave labor, and schemes
An unemployed workforce, the capitalist's dream
But lets keep Britain working--either way we must keep Britain working
Conventional weapons to kill people nicely
Nuclear weapons to keep the peace
But weapons definitely--either way we must defend ourselves
Nationalization, with one big boss
No, privatization, with lots of little bosses
But someone in control, of course, either way there must be someone giving orders
[Chorus]
A toast to democracy
The prison guard of this society
Sides in the voting game
Disappear into the same machine
The same machine
A toast
To US bases and nuclear weapons
To stopping pickets pulling down fences
To the British troops in Northern Ireland
To the wonderful victory in the Falklands
To the plastic bullet and the riot police
To the UDM, to the TUC
To isolating gays and to law and to order
To richer bosses, to poorer workers
[Repeat chorus]
To longer hours and to less pay
To the courts for those who get in our way
To the beating of people who step out of line
To the use of troops to break a strike
To the expulsion of extremists and political witch hunts
To repatriation, to benefit cuts
To peaceful settlements, and to no strike agreements
To authority, to power, to governments
One, two, three
To the annual rise in the MP's wage
To vested interests, to privilege
To the party who wins the next election
By definition a victory to capitalism

Here's The Rest Of Your Life lyrics - Chumbawamba

Why settle for what we're shown
When there is so much more?
Sometimes the Book of Law
Is only half the story
Means and ends:
Deciding where to draw the line
Loss or work in Sellafield homes
Or the threat of cancers yet to come?
The choice is obvious:
There is no choice
Only the option of looking outside
This narrow definition of "What you see is all there will ever be"
There comes a time - that time is now -
When every second, every day
When every action, every thought
Will tell the world how you cast your vote
They break our legs
And we say "Thank you" when they offer us crutches
Tired of mild reform
Sick of hand-me-downs
We topple all the theories to the ground:
All real change
Must come from below
Our bosses must live in fear
Of the factory-floor
And when they smile
And they ask for my support,
I'll give them these words
And a bloody nose:
You don't help your enemy
When you're at war
There are moments in all of our lives
Tiny sparks still deep inside
When a new-born baby cries
When you're watching clouds in a summer sky
The first time you walked out on strike
Love and sex and holding light
Tings that can't be bought
By promises and votes
I hate the things I love being criminalised
I hate the straight-jacket schools I grew up in
I hate MPs, judges and magistrates
I hate being taught to base my life on TV stars
I hate being kept waiting by bureaucrats
I hate wars, and all the people who love them
I hate the idea of living on other people's backs
I hate being filed, registered and classified
I hate being watched and monitered
I hate police
I hate the way you talk down at me
I hate being told what to do
I hate you when you don't listen
I hate the way you distort my sexuality with pornography
I hate the pain we inflict on each other
On animals, and on the Earth
And I hate how love songs have become such cliches
through endless, shallow repitition
Each angry word
Every cynical put-down
Every song is carefully born
From a hope of something better to come
All jumbled-up
Love and hate and love
Each prompted by the other:
For the cause of peace we have to go to war
Refusing to sleep
Whilst there's a world to win
Yet happy to dream
Dreams make the plans to change this world
Not just some future heaven
But today and every day
In our place of work
In the queue for the metrobus
Organise!
Here's the rest of our lives!
..A tiny spark still deep inside
We can and will run the factories and mills
We can and will educate ourselves
We can and will work the fields
We can and will police ourselves
We can and will create and build
Organise!
Here's the rest of our lives!

"Pictures Of Starving Children Sell Records" (1986)




How To Get Your Band On Television lyrics - Chumbawamba

I'm the Boss of the company
And I've got hunger working for me
Listen and you'll begin to understand
I built my profits on stolen land
It's the economics of supply and demand
And I make the demands around here
Product sells, people die
Same manipulation wrapped in lies
Give a little money and play your rock and roll
The biggest prizes to the biggest fools
Good evening ladies and gentlemen
Welcome to the show where you the audience participate
On our show tonight we got lost of surprises in store for you at home
In keeping with the fashion for charity, not change
Here's out contribution--we've called it Slag Aid
For every pop star that we slag off today
A million pounds will be given away
Paul McCartney - come on down
With crocodile tears to irrigate this ground
Make of Ethiopia a fertile paradise
Where everyone sings Beatles songs and buys shares in EMI
Charity, starvation, and rock and roll
Let it be, eh Paulie?
Freddie Mercury, this is your life
Thank the Lord that you were born white
And thank apartheid for this wonderful opportunity
To peddle your hypocrisy in Sun City
A bit of a hot potato in a moment, eh Fred, in South Africa?
Well I'm sure there's a video in there somewhere
David Bowie, the price is right
A suitful of compassion and a gobful of shite
Still the voices of those who doubt
Coca-Cola for the peasants to end this drought
David the world can only take so much
And with you around, we're in for a really hard time
Jagger and Richards, game for a laugh
Dancing us down the garden path

To a place where money grows on trees
Where cocaine habits are financed by hunger and disease
There's only one mountain in the rock and roll business
Ladies and Gentlemen, and it's Mick Jagger
Ask the puppet-masters who pull the strings
Who makes the money when the puppets sing
Ask the corporations where does the money go
Ask the empty-bellied children what are we singing for
And Cliff Richard, three, two, one
The God who remains when the religion's gone
Cliff, we've got a special surprise for you today
So come up closer, step this way
Cliff, you're such an example of moral worth
Such a purist saint come to bless our earth
That on behalf of our viewers watching on telly
And on behalf of the millions with empty bellies
We're donating something special that we're all going to like
Cliff Richard, we're going to nail you up to a cross tonight
Ladies and gentlemen, just imagine it, someone comes along, takes everything you own, your space, your house, separates you from your family and then hits you in the face if you say anything different. Well, that's what we've been doing to the third world for the past four hundred years. That's you and me. You the viewers at home, me in the studio, the pop stars, everyone. That's how we make the third world, every day, today and every day. If you want any correspondence with the program, just send your answers, letter bombs only, to BP House, Victoria Street, London, SW1
Thank you and good night
Feed the world
Starve the rich
Goodnight
I know there must be more
I know there must be more
Than giving just a little bit more
When half of this world is so helplessly poor
Starved of the real solution
Charity and tradition
And the cycle of hungry children
Will keep on going 'round
I know there must be more
Will keep on going 'round
I know there must be more
Will keep on going 'round
I know there must be more
'Till we burn the house of commons to the ground

British Colonialism And The BBC lyrics - Chumbawamba

I'm the boss of the BBC
I'm the monkey at the top of the media tree
Your version of the riots in Cape Town
Comes second-hand from me
Chewing and spewing this revolution
For popular TV
All your opinions are carefully chosen
By what we'll let you see
Televised crap dressed up as fact
Your soap reality
We only want a chance to show the Editor's side
Of struggle in the news
Closer and closer to the State's eye view
And further from the truth
Push a microphone to the mouth of this youth
Bewildered and confused
Misreported, distorted, misquoted
A ready-made victim to be used

Quote you on things that you never said
Put this pencil to your head
Kill your revolution dead
TV tells us what to be and what to say and what to do
How to act and how to lie but never question why
Fighting to stop this mass-deception
Fighting to scrap the pass-laws
Fighting to end misuse of land
Fighting to close down diamond mines
Fighting to feed their hungry mouths
Fighting to change the world
And here, we sit on a fence
Built by distance and enforced by lies
Is a full stomach all it takes
To keep us pacified

Commercial Break lyrics - Chumbawamba

I'm the wife of the boss of the company
And I always make my husband answer to me
With what he says about the blacks, I totally agree
The main problem is, they're not civilized, you see

Look at the way that they squabble between themselves
Rioting at funerals, they'll surely go to hell
If you gave them nice houses, they'd only burn them down

You don't get that in a white man's town
And boycotting products won't do them any good
You see they need the trade to help buy food

And when I visit my niece on her beautiful homestead
The blacks who work for her seem really quite content
So I'll agree with my husband, let things stay as they are
That's always been his motto and we've gone far

Unilever lyrics - Chumbawamba

(White-whitewash, white-whitewash)
When you don't want to feed the world
When you just want to feed your bank balance
Wash your guilt away (Whitewash)
Unilever
Washes whiter (whitewash)
Soap to clean those dirty hands
And a slap for the people who work the land
Unilever (whitewash, whitewash)
Man-made hunger (whitewash)
Soap in our eyes (white-whitewash)
John West is the best (whitewash)
Old soap opera (whitewash)
No soap-reality (whitewash)
Legal slave trade (white-whitewash)
Domestos kills all known truths dead

(White-whitewash, white-whitewash)

Soap to wash the darkest stain
Profit covers up the pain
Of a slow, deliberate genocide
And all the dirt you want to hide
Take the black and wash it whiter (whitewash)
Brooke-Bond Oxo (whitewash)
Blue Band, Bird's Eye (whitewash)
Lifebuoy, Sunsilk (whitewash)
Persil washes whiter (whitewash)
We make whitewash
(Whitewash)
We sell whitewash
(Whitewash)
Consume whitewash
Consumed by whitewash (whitewash)

[Simultaneously:]
Unilever, Man-made hunger
Soap to wash the darkest stain
Soap in our eyes, John West is the best
Profit covers up the pain
Of a slow, deliberate genocide
Old soap opera
No soap-reality
And all the dirt you want to hide
Legal slave trade
Take the black and wash it white
Domestos kills all known truths dead

Whitewash
Buy it

Somewhere in this cycle there's me and you
What are we prepared to do?
Somewhere in this cycle there's me and you
What are we prepared to do?
Somewhere in this cycle there's me and you
What are we prepared to do?
Somewhere in this cycle there's me and you
What are we prepared to do?
Somewhere in this cycle there's me and you
What are we prepared to do?
Somewhere in this cycle there's me and you
What are we prepared to do?
Somewhere in this cycle there's me and you
What are we prepared to do?
Somewhere in this cycle there's me and you
What are we prepared to do?

[vomiting]

More Whitewashing lyrics - Chumbawamba

Children in school forced to the desk
Finger the atlas and study the text
Lies and opinion presented as fact
Taught to accept and never to ask

Those smiling workers in Ladybird books
They're not picking coffee at all
They're busy with bricks and mortar
Building the company wall

Flickering pictures hypnotize
We spend our lives watching others' lives
Too much watching to realize
That this is a smokescreen
And this is why people die

Those smiling news presenters
They're not reading cue cards at all
They're busy with brush and bucket
Whitewashing the company wall

Set yourself up and play it again
Force the tears and entertain
Sing about a world of make believe
Force this charity and leave

Rich people who claim to know
What's wrong with this world
Can't know anything at all
They're busy giving the orders
For us to build their second homes

Flickering pictures hypnotize
Flickering pictures hypnotize

And we who take the orders
And refuse to question it all
We're busy with spade and Bible
Burying the poor, burying the poor

Mass manufactured and given away
Blinkers to get you through your day
So you'll never ever know to what extent you're involved
Easily fooled, all your problems solved

You'll say starvation has nothing to do with you
You saw it in print, so it must be true
And the documentary explained it all
It's a simple matter of birth control

And if you send a little money, you can sleep tonight
Or starve in sympathy on a Limmits Diet
And you know that charity cures malnutrition
And hunger put the sparkle back in television

Hunger put the sparkle back in television
Hunger put the sparkle back in television

An Interlude: Beginning To Take It Back lyrics - Chumbawamba

Words to describe Nicaragua of old
Cash crops and hunger and US control
Coffee and sugar on company land
Made to supply what the boss would demand
Then one July morning in seventy-nine
Nicaragua decided to leave it behind

[Chorus]
And the people are learning to take back their lives
As the country will change, Sandinista survives
Women are winning what they've never known
The power to organize outside the home
Starting to find what is equal and fair

Ensuring that this revolution is shared
Regaining lost chances, demanding much more
Running the factories, fighting the war

[Repeat chorus]

Nobody claims that it's over and done
There's too much depends on enlistment and guns
And raising their children and filling their plates
And chasing the Contras to Washington State
The Yankee conspiracy thrown to the ground
That's where the spirit of change can be found

[Repeat chorus]

Dutiful Servants And Political Masters lyrics - Chumbawamba

One, two, one, two, three, four
Things were rather different in great grandfather's day
He just put a chain around their ankles and made them work for no pay
He took everything they owned and yet still demanded more
He did a bloody good job in taming the poor
Now I'm rather more subtle, I say, I'll tell you what I will do
I'll do everything I can to try and help you
And you'll be helping me, I say, and I'll see that you're alright
You can have a place of your own, you can even pretend to be white
And you won't have to worry, I'll have a quiet word with your mates
Oh they'll be alright, they'll have enough on their plate
I'll put a bit in their mouths, you just pull hard on the reins
They'll do anything for you and they won't complain
You'll be so much better off, I say, you can share my paradise
Just sign my piece of paper and I'll organize your life
And it never fails, it does the trick, it works every time
So me and my dear wife and the family's doing fine
Great granddad got his dukedom when slavery was abolished
Dear old dad became a viscount when the Empire was finished
But times have changed for the better with freedom of choice
We're a thousand times richer, QED His Master's Voice

A dog stares into a gramophone trumpet, waits for its call to action
Mute and obedient, standing to attention
Look a little closer, the dog is a woman
She's working under a system that she can't understand
Trapped inside a world of labor and heat
So that she and her children will be able to eat
The trumpet is patriarchy, it's old and fixed
Where poor men are lured by desire to be rich
Where the limited power is still given to men
Where development aid is so wastefully spent
Where western education enforces this crap
Where women work in the open, yet live in a trap
There's one solution, and this is it
The dog leaps on the gramophone and has a shit

Coca-Colanisation lyrics - Chumbawamba

So I think, I mean, it's a nice sound

It's a happy sound, and it's not doing anybody any harm

...And In A Nutshell lyrics - Chumbawamba

And the company director spins the globe
Looks into on atlas of the world
A supermarket lifestyle for as all
A thousand nations under company control
Coca-Cola got machines in every land

No-one got the teeth to bite the hand
Stole their labor, their culture, and their lives
To create a Coca-Cola paradise
Swallowing their soft drinks and their lies
Let's take the blindfold from our eyes

Invasion lyrics - Chumbawamba

The first world's got greedy, we're consuming it all
The third world's got hunger and military control
This unequal balance is a master plan
One gets rich from the other's land

They've got it all worked out and we give our consent

They've got it all worked out for Central America
They've got it all worked out for Africa
And in our naivety we believe myths and over consume
And give them our consent, dying in the shadow of the USA
Let them eat bullshit, make the land pay

Make a fast deal with the local elite
Then substitute cash crops where once grew wheat
Build a cycle of dependence on a starvation diet
With food as a weapon, workers stay quiet

And multinational names have blood on their brands
From taking an interest in misused lands
Del Monte, Tate and Lyle, Ralston Purina
Coca-Cola, RTZ and Unilever
All packaging lifestyles for the glamorous west
Expand the company, exploit the rest

We are not isolated by distance
But by greed and our racist history
Just a wall's width away
Still impossible to see across
This space in front on me

It's we who write this history
We who guard the money tree
We support the companies
We stole the colonies

And when the system starts to crack
We'll have to ready to give it all back

See the space which lies between the rich and the poor
How the space increases as we keep on taking more
Keeping that space between us all
Is how the West can keep control

With a mission and a cheque book promising aid
Posing for the camera, the United Nations man came
He talked of control and the terrible drought
And the way that the West would bail them out

They he stopped smiling and talked conditions
Of mutual aid, of American wishes
Sending in aid with sewn on strings
If they won't buy arms, then it's pulled back in

Feeding the world American style
Col. Sanders has an empire behind his smile
Back up the investments with a military regime
Then cleverly say, "It's to keep the world free"

But the multinational myths are beginning to fall
The poor don't want aid, they want control
And if we really want to see the Third World eat
We've got to see through the wrapping on the high street

Past barriers of culture that dictate our lives
We're busy consuming as the other half dies
And the answer's not a question on charity
Not whilst profit's still the top priority

So let the glossy shop fronts know what to expect
And you bosses of companies
And the cycle of hungry children
Will keep on going round
Until we burn the multinationals to the ground

"Revolution" (1985)




Adversity lyrics - Chumbawamba

Thirty years of the same old shit
Of music, money, hit after hit
Smiles, lies, sales, walls
That's thirty years of rock and roll
They changed it's name once or twice
Get rebellious with a company deal
Business thrives where honesty fails
Contracts? Con tricks!
Sing revolution, wait 'til it starts
One eye on the bank account, one on the charts
Government-sponsored rebellion--buy it!
A bit more product to keep us quiet!
Shhh
Product sells, people die
Same revolution, wrapped in lies
In these sexist, drugged-up, rock and roles
The biggest prizes to the biggest fools
Ask the puppet-masters who pull the strings
'Who makes the money when the puppets sing?'
Ask the corporations

'Where does the money go?'
Ask the empty-bellied children
'Tell me what are we singing for?'
Until we pull down the walls
It'll stay the same
Until we find something new
Make it change
I know there most be more
So what are we singing for?
These puppets, underneath the skin, have the same problems as you and me--they want to be loved, don't know where to begin. Just a wall's width away, but impossible to get close. Offstage, with nothing to hide behind, the puppets are running away. And meanwhile, we're running away from ourselves... and meanwhile, we're running away from ourselves... and meanwhile, we're running away from ourselves...
If our music makes you happy or content
It has failed
If our music entertains, but doesn't inspire
It has failed
The music's not a threat
Action the music inspires can be a threat!
I know there must be more...

Total Control lyrics - Chumbawamba

Product sells
People die
Same revolution
Wrapped in lies
In these sexist, drugged-up
Rock and roles
The biggest prizes
To the biggest fools

Ask the puppet-masters
Who pull the strings
'Who makes the money
When the puppets sing?'
Ask the corporations
'Where does the money go?'
Ask the empty-bellied children
'Tell me what are we singing for?'

Until we pull down the walls
It'll stay the same
Until we find something new
Make it change
I know there most be more
So what are we singing for?

[Repeats until end of song]
I know there most be more

"These puppets, underneath the skin, have the same problems as you and me--they want to be loved, don't know where to begin. Just a wall's width away, but impossible to get close. Offstage, with nothing to hide behind, the puppets are running away. And meanwhile, we're running away from ourselves... and meanwhile, we're running away from ourselves... and meanwhile, we're running away from ourselves..."

If our music makes you happy or content
It has failed
If our music entertains, but doesn't inspire
It has failed
The music's not a threat
Action the music inspires
Can be a threat!

Stagnation lyrics - Chumbawamba

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die fo...
A dog stares into a gramaphone trumpet
Waits for his call to action
Mute and obedient, standing to attention
Look a little closer, the dog is a man
Working on the factory floor as hard as he can
The trumpets is a loudspeaker, fixed into the roof
The man can hear His Master's Voice
And it always tells the truth
The man obeys his master, and carries out his work
And of course he is rewarded with bonuses and perks
You see, they have an understanding
And this is it:
The man stands under his master
Whilst his master has a shit

Liberation lyrics - Chumbawamba

There's always been a pattern of struggle and defeat
Never that cycle incomplete
Never enough to tip the scales
Too many people rotting in jails
Or bloodied on the battlefields
The history books from every age
Have the same words written on every page
Always starting with 'Revolution'
And ending with 'Capitulation'
Always silenced by the truncheon
Or bought out with concessions
Always repetition...
Repetition... repetition... repetition...
[Repeat]
I'm the boss of the factory
I'm in charge of the U.K.C.
Shopfloor workers run and fetch
As I sit around and smugly watch
And the process makes me stinking rich
We're all links in the factory chain
And the chain grows longer day by day
And whilst we're apart
The process won't stop
Repetition... repetition... repetition...
[Repeat]
But we're kept apart by philosophies
And moral stances and policies
We'll be stuck in our own little ghettos forever
'Til we start to work together
Together... Together... Together... Together in the open or together in our little heaven?
Fighting for total change, or working for concessions?
Do we take what is ours, or ask that it be given?
Are we stealing it together, or asking for permission?
Even though we disagree we share a common enemy
Our methods may not be the same
But together we can break the chain
Different aims, different means, with common ground in between
Don't sit back, it's time to act
This life is ours, let's snatch it back
Even though we disagree we share a common enemy
Our methods may not be the same
But together we can break the chain
Different aims, different means, with common ground in between
Don't sit back, it's time to act
This life is ours, let's snatch it back
The time has come to make a choice
Stop taking orders from His Master's Voice!

"Another Year Of The Same Old Shit" (1984)




Body lyrics - Chumbawamba

Fighter breaks the web, lights a fire, quite nature
Hearing laughter, still and silent, AWAKE THE HUNTER...

Man tore the tree of knowledge down
and made it into paper money
thinking he could buy -
himself a better world.
MORE MONEY WON'T BUY A BETTER WORLD

Man consumes is all consuming
the earth becomes a treeless moorland
more money and more lies -
more power and more waste.
MY BODY WILL BE MY STATEMENT

This destruction of the earth
requires our co-operation
our voices and our bodies -
our money and our work

I say no,
this body is mine, this earth is mine,
I won't allow - this body,
to play a part in the destruction,
of this earth.

Do Not Adjust Your Life lyrics - Chambawamba

[TV changing]

Man found dead in armchair
Sitting next to wife transfixed and knitting

Channel stays unchanged
They dumbly watch, don't make a sound
They're force-fed shit
From breakfast-time
To the closedown

T.V. tells them what to be
And what to say and what to do
How to act and how to lie
But never question
WHY

And they're always
Switched off

Wife says
"Time for winner takes all
I wish we had remote control"
Man can't hear and goes unheard
As she knits through his final words

If you want to turn me on
Turn the television off
If you want to turn me on
Turn the television off
If you want to turn me on
Turn the television off
If you want to turn me on
Turn the television off!

[TV]

Baby Killers lyrics - Chumbawamba

The powdered milk
That the adverts sell
To third world mothers
Deprived and ill
The little tins
Of milk-white-lies
For the starving child
That wants
Yet dies

Lured away
From the mother's breast
By lies imported from the west
She cannot keep the bottle clean
She cannot read the little tin
Sees the picture clean and white
But never taught to read and write
The company that offers the bribe
For the deaths of a thousand kicks
Inside

To some people money means more than life
But only when it's someone else's life
Nestles' company pocket fillers
They're sucking from those tiny bellies
More money for the baby-killers
Breath
Life
Death
Lies

Streets lyrics - Chumbawamba

The streets are full of Argentinians,
the pubs a closing, out come the para's in t-shirts
WHO WILL BE FIRST INTO PORT STANLEY
who be into Port Stanley...

[Spoken word piece]

The streets are full of Russians,
disguise as women and homo-sexuals
[?]
together in the streets, [?]
Ahhhhhhhh!!!!

[Spoken word piece]

The streets are full Irish children...

Marching Round In Circles lyrics - Chumbawamba

Marching round in circles round another institution
Whilst the people on the inside are planning our destruction
Marching round in circles round another institution
Another demonstration that our freedom's an illusion

They knew that we were coming
We asked them if we could
They organized our protest
They laid it on for us
They let us make a noise
They let us march around
In a specially built police-cell
They call Trafalgar Square

If no-one breaks the rules
Nothing will change
If no-one breaks the laws
It will always be the same
Step out of line
Increase our demands
If we don't break the rules
We just go round and round and round and round and round

Marching round in circles round another institution
Whilst the people on the inside are planning our destruction
Marching round in circles round another institution
Another demonstration that our freedom's an illusion

They knew that we were coming
We asked them if we could
They organized our protest
They laid it on for us
They let us make a noise
They let us march around
In a specially built police-cell
They call Hyde Park

If no-one breaks the rules
Nothing will change
If no-one breaks the laws
It will always be the same
Step out of line
Increase our demands
If we don't break the rules
We just go round and round and round and round and round

[Song repeats from beginning]

Round and round and round and round
Round and round and round and round
Round and round and round and round
Round and round and round and round
Round and round and round and round
Round and round and round and round
Round and round and round and round
Round and round and round and round

Butterflies lyrics - Chumbawamba

Watching a butterfly
Move over moorland
So pretty and colourful
Wings catch the sun
Such simple beauty attracting a mate
For creation of life
For the cycle to carry on
To carry on
Contrast the bomber that turns in the sky
Ugly and lifeless and serving no purpose
Save war
And the politics of war
What are wings for?
They borrowed nature's skill
And taught it how to kill
How to kill
So crossing their bypass?? and crossing their purpose
The butterfly shadowed by bomber above
Alone and distracted and thus unaware
Of the butterfly collector
A butterfly collector
A butterfly collector
A butterfly collector

"Hehe, well I'm outraged..."

EMI/HMV lyrics - Chumbawamba

HMV, in their moral righteousness, refuse to sell records which contain four-letter words as they are regarded as obscene and in bad taste, and yet Thorn-EMI, their parent company, manufacture and export weapons of war and instruments of torture worldwide.
Does that cause public outcry?
Does it fuck.

Rape lyrics - Chumbawamba

[Spoken word piece:]
Leaving at 11:00, walking past your windows
see the kitchen, full of television??
men who grow up in silence, need a voice
old and ordinary, she didn't understand...

Logic was simple, based upon reason
a nice girl wouldn't be out alone
SOME GIRLS GET WHAT THEY ASK FOR
this family we're nice girls
blocked in by marriage,
secure in his home,
PROTECTED,
BUT NEVER FREE..

They rape us in the courts
where the victims go on trial
rape us with their culture, promises and smiles.

Rape us with their wars
to the victor goes the prize
rape us with big business, security and lies

They take away our dignity
and sell us plastic sex
take away our choices and leave us no respect.

Rape is hurt men, hurting women
betraying trust
calculated violence not uncontrollable lust.

Rape's a power assertion
from the press to the street
selling papers, selling products -
packaged sex, packaged meat.

Storm lyrics - Chumbawamba

There's a storm
In every port
There's a storm

There's a storm
In every port

In Liverpool or South Georgia
Listen to the words of a bribed reporter

Propaganda keeps us dumb
Believing all the shit that we read in The Sun

There's a storm
In every port
There's a storm

There's a storm
In every port

People die
We don't ask why
We're passive and we're happy
And we're fed on lies

We have to try!

There's a storm
In every port
There's a storm

There's a storm
In every port

Yeah...

Menwith Hill lyrics - Chumbawamba

Here we are at Menwith Hill
they dug a hole on land not theirs.
filled with computers called Menwith Hill:
7 floors down, hidden from view,
official secret, don't let us know
how they spend money whilst people starve.
They call it progress, "this year's thing"
1984 - they're listening in -
Technology made them robot people!
They tap our phones, record our lives;
Destroy the TRUST that we should all SHARE!

[Spoken word piece]

Listening to everything that we say.
silencing the little that we can say.
watching what we do in every way.
But they can't hear desire and they
can't see though
they can't see the traces of the spark
inside me
wanting to be free.

Someone Else lyrics - Chumbawamba

For someone
To drop that bomb

Someone else must play a part
A link in the chain eight hours a day
Never thinking of morality
Follow commands, blindly obey

Someone else
Could it be you?
Think about what you do
And for who
Who
Who

Someone else must tell the lies
For someone else to make the laws
For someone else to do research
For someone else to make that bomb

Someone else
Could it be you?
Think about what you do

Making money, making weapons
Filthy fingers in filthy pies
Investing, buying
And financing
Company profits built on lies
Lies
Lies
Lies
Lies [repeat until end of song]

They use their lies
To get their heavy work done
They use their lies
To get their heavy work done

Rock 'n' Roles lyrics Chumbawamba

Stripped of life...

Thirty years of the same old shit; (of rock and roll ignorance)
of music, of money of hit after hit...
from blue swede shoes and back again
different era same old game.

They changed it's name once or twice,
dressed if different, and upped the price
and if any question, all a lie
(tell them Elvis never died) tell them Johnny Rotten never died.

and what if your revolution starts, everybody will be to busy watching the charts
Government-sponsored rebellion: BUY IT!
A BIT MORE PRODUCT TO KEEP US QUITE

It's one more method of keeping us in line
it's one more fashion it's called punk this time
we're shouting loud but we're facing a wall
of sexist, drugged up, rock and roll.

[Spoken word piece:]
Meanwhile the industry we call rock and roll carry's on growing
buying up our means of communication, watching and waiting
they've got the check books in the one hand
and the safe, acceptable, finished packaged product in the other.
CONTRACTS! CON-TRICKS!

I don't want to be apart of that rock and roll circus
I don't want to be a passive, well-trained animal or a painted clown
because as we're clowning about in that circus
this planet is being destroyed, bit, by bit, by bit
and rock and roll is helping to kill it.

It's time to kick away the props that hold up the power structures
It's time to create something different, it's time to change!
Rock and roll won't change a thing,
it's the same institution no-matter what you sing!

Followers