Matty_UK
25th February 2009, 15:13
Anyone into these? Great working class Britpop band from Sheffield with a lot of leftist songs, here are some of their lyrics to their most overtly political songs, but even aside from these much of their lyrics are written from the perspective of post-Thatcher northern working class cynicism.
Cocaine Socialism
Without context this song could seem anti-socialist, but it was written around the time of Tony Blair and New Labour getting elected, Blair invited Jarvis Cocker of Pulp as well as Oasis and Blur to come to Downing Street to boost their popularity. Unlike Noel Gallagher and some of the guys from Blur, Jarvis told him to fuck off and wrote this song in response
I thought that you were joking
When you said "I want to see you
To discuss your contribution
To the future of our nation's heart and soul
Six o'clock, my place, Whitehall"
Well I arrived just after seven
But you said "It doesn't matter"
"I understand your situation
And your image, and I'm flattered
Oh and I'd just like to tell you
That I love all of your albums
Could you sign this for my daughter?
She's in hospital, her name is Miriam
Now I'll get down to the gist:
Do you want a line of this?
Are you a (sniff)
socialist?"
"Now I'm doin' fine, yeah!
Buzzin' all the time
Just one hit
And I feel great
And I support
The welfare state
Oh, you must be socialist
'Cos you're always off out on the piss
In your private member's bar
Oh yes you are
Yer superstar
Well you sing about common people
And the mis-shapes and the misfits
So can you bring them to my party
And get them all to sniff this?
And all I'm really saying
Is come on and rock the vote for me
All I'm really saying
Is come on roll up that note for me
Your choice in all of this is:
Do you want hits?
Or d'you want misses?
Are you a socialist, yeah
Socialist, yeah
Socialist, yeah
Oh yeah"
"Yeah, you can be just what you want to be
Just as long as you don't try to compete with me
And we've waited such a long time
For the chance to help our own kind, so now
Please come on and tow the party line
Oh you owe it to yourself
Don't think of anybody else
And we promise we won't tell
Oh we won't tell, and we won't sell"
No we won't
No we won't
No we won't
Last Day of the Miner's Strike
Kids are spitting on the Town Hall steps & frightening old ladies.
I dreamt that I was living back in the mid 1980s,
People marching, people shouting, people wearing pastel leather.
The future's ours for the taking now, if we just stick together.
And I said
"Hey, lay your burden down,
Seems the last day of the miners' strike
Was the Magna Carta in this part of town".
Well my body sank below the ground, it became as black as night,
Overhead the sound of horses' hooves, people fighting for their lives.
Some joker in a headband was still getting chicks for free
And Big Brother was still watching you, back in the days of '83.
And I said
"Hey, lay your burden down,
Seems the last day of the miners' strike
Was the Magna Carta in this part of town".
Well by 1985 I was as cold a cold could be,
But no-one was underground to dig me out and set me free.
87 socialism gave way to socialising,
So put your hands up in the air once more, the north is rising...
And I said
"Hey, lay your burden down,
Seems the last day of the miners' strike
Was the Magna Carta in this part of town"
Sing Hallelujah, sing Hallelujah,
Don't let them fool you again, sing Hallelujah.
By now I'm sick & tired of just living in this hole,
So I took the ancient tablets, blew off the dust,
Swallowed them whole.
Oh come on, let's get together,
Oh come on, the past is gone,
Well the very first Commandment:
Come on, come on,
Let's get it on, come on let's get it on.
Get it on. Get it on.
Hey, lay your burden down,
Seems the last day of the miners' strike
Was the Magna Carta in this part of town.
Common People
She came from Greece she had a thirst for knowledge
She studied sculpture at Saint Martin's College, that's where I caught her eye.
She told me that her Dad was loaded
I said in that case I'll have a rum and coke-cola.
She said fine and in thirty seconds time she said, I want to live like common people
I want to do whatever common people do, I want to sleep with common people
I want to sleep with common people like you.
Well what else could I do - I said I'll see what I can do.
I took her to a supermarket
I don't know why but I had to start it somewhere, so it started there.
I said pretend you've got no money, she just laughed and said oh you're so funny.
I said yeah? Well I can't see anyone else smiling in here.
Are you sure you want to live like common people
You want to see whatever common people see
You want to sleep with common people,
you want to sleep with common people like me.
But she didn't understand, she just smiled and held my hand.
Rent a flat above a shop, cut your hair and get a job.
Smoke some fags and play some pool, pretend you never went to school.
But still you'll never get it right
'cos when you're laid in bed at night watching roaches climb the wall
If you call your Dad he could stop it all.
You'll never live like common people
You'll never do what common people do
You'll never fail like common people
You'll never watch your life slide out of view, and dance and drink and screw
Because there's nothing else to do.
Sing along with the common people, sing along and it might just get you thru'
Laugh along with the common people
Laugh along even though they're laughing at you and the stupid things that you do.
Because you think that poor is cool.
I want to live with common people, I want to live with common people
Running the World
Well did you hear, there's a natural order?
Those most deserving will end up with the most?
That the cream cannot help but always rise up to the top,
Well I say,... "Shit floats."
If you thought things had changed,
Friend, you'd better think again,
Bluntly put, in the fewest of words:
****s are still running the world,
****s are still running the world.
Now the Working classes are obsolete,
They are surplus to society's needs,
So let 'em all kill each other,
And get it maid overseas.
That's the word don't you know,
From the guys that's running the show,
Lets be perfectly clear boys and girls,
****s are still running the world,
****s are still running the world.
Oh feed your children on crayfish and lobster tails,
Find a school near the top of the league,
In theory I respect your right to exist,
I will kill you if you move in next to me,
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust,
Oh but the takings are up by a third,
****s are still running the world,
****s are still running the world.
(****s are still running the world)
(****s are still running the world)
The free market is perfectly natural,
Do you think that I'm some kind of dummy?
It's the ideal way to order the world;
“Fuck the morals, does it make any money?”
And if you don't like it? Then leave.
Or use your right to protest on the street,
Yeah, use your right but don't imagine that it's heard,
Not whilst ****s are still running the world,
****s are still running the world,
****s are still running the world,
****s are still running the world,
****s are still running the world,
****s are still running the world,
****s are still running... the world.
Cocaine Socialism
Without context this song could seem anti-socialist, but it was written around the time of Tony Blair and New Labour getting elected, Blair invited Jarvis Cocker of Pulp as well as Oasis and Blur to come to Downing Street to boost their popularity. Unlike Noel Gallagher and some of the guys from Blur, Jarvis told him to fuck off and wrote this song in response
I thought that you were joking
When you said "I want to see you
To discuss your contribution
To the future of our nation's heart and soul
Six o'clock, my place, Whitehall"
Well I arrived just after seven
But you said "It doesn't matter"
"I understand your situation
And your image, and I'm flattered
Oh and I'd just like to tell you
That I love all of your albums
Could you sign this for my daughter?
She's in hospital, her name is Miriam
Now I'll get down to the gist:
Do you want a line of this?
Are you a (sniff)
socialist?"
"Now I'm doin' fine, yeah!
Buzzin' all the time
Just one hit
And I feel great
And I support
The welfare state
Oh, you must be socialist
'Cos you're always off out on the piss
In your private member's bar
Oh yes you are
Yer superstar
Well you sing about common people
And the mis-shapes and the misfits
So can you bring them to my party
And get them all to sniff this?
And all I'm really saying
Is come on and rock the vote for me
All I'm really saying
Is come on roll up that note for me
Your choice in all of this is:
Do you want hits?
Or d'you want misses?
Are you a socialist, yeah
Socialist, yeah
Socialist, yeah
Oh yeah"
"Yeah, you can be just what you want to be
Just as long as you don't try to compete with me
And we've waited such a long time
For the chance to help our own kind, so now
Please come on and tow the party line
Oh you owe it to yourself
Don't think of anybody else
And we promise we won't tell
Oh we won't tell, and we won't sell"
No we won't
No we won't
No we won't
Last Day of the Miner's Strike
Kids are spitting on the Town Hall steps & frightening old ladies.
I dreamt that I was living back in the mid 1980s,
People marching, people shouting, people wearing pastel leather.
The future's ours for the taking now, if we just stick together.
And I said
"Hey, lay your burden down,
Seems the last day of the miners' strike
Was the Magna Carta in this part of town".
Well my body sank below the ground, it became as black as night,
Overhead the sound of horses' hooves, people fighting for their lives.
Some joker in a headband was still getting chicks for free
And Big Brother was still watching you, back in the days of '83.
And I said
"Hey, lay your burden down,
Seems the last day of the miners' strike
Was the Magna Carta in this part of town".
Well by 1985 I was as cold a cold could be,
But no-one was underground to dig me out and set me free.
87 socialism gave way to socialising,
So put your hands up in the air once more, the north is rising...
And I said
"Hey, lay your burden down,
Seems the last day of the miners' strike
Was the Magna Carta in this part of town"
Sing Hallelujah, sing Hallelujah,
Don't let them fool you again, sing Hallelujah.
By now I'm sick & tired of just living in this hole,
So I took the ancient tablets, blew off the dust,
Swallowed them whole.
Oh come on, let's get together,
Oh come on, the past is gone,
Well the very first Commandment:
Come on, come on,
Let's get it on, come on let's get it on.
Get it on. Get it on.
Hey, lay your burden down,
Seems the last day of the miners' strike
Was the Magna Carta in this part of town.
Common People
She came from Greece she had a thirst for knowledge
She studied sculpture at Saint Martin's College, that's where I caught her eye.
She told me that her Dad was loaded
I said in that case I'll have a rum and coke-cola.
She said fine and in thirty seconds time she said, I want to live like common people
I want to do whatever common people do, I want to sleep with common people
I want to sleep with common people like you.
Well what else could I do - I said I'll see what I can do.
I took her to a supermarket
I don't know why but I had to start it somewhere, so it started there.
I said pretend you've got no money, she just laughed and said oh you're so funny.
I said yeah? Well I can't see anyone else smiling in here.
Are you sure you want to live like common people
You want to see whatever common people see
You want to sleep with common people,
you want to sleep with common people like me.
But she didn't understand, she just smiled and held my hand.
Rent a flat above a shop, cut your hair and get a job.
Smoke some fags and play some pool, pretend you never went to school.
But still you'll never get it right
'cos when you're laid in bed at night watching roaches climb the wall
If you call your Dad he could stop it all.
You'll never live like common people
You'll never do what common people do
You'll never fail like common people
You'll never watch your life slide out of view, and dance and drink and screw
Because there's nothing else to do.
Sing along with the common people, sing along and it might just get you thru'
Laugh along with the common people
Laugh along even though they're laughing at you and the stupid things that you do.
Because you think that poor is cool.
I want to live with common people, I want to live with common people
Running the World
Well did you hear, there's a natural order?
Those most deserving will end up with the most?
That the cream cannot help but always rise up to the top,
Well I say,... "Shit floats."
If you thought things had changed,
Friend, you'd better think again,
Bluntly put, in the fewest of words:
****s are still running the world,
****s are still running the world.
Now the Working classes are obsolete,
They are surplus to society's needs,
So let 'em all kill each other,
And get it maid overseas.
That's the word don't you know,
From the guys that's running the show,
Lets be perfectly clear boys and girls,
****s are still running the world,
****s are still running the world.
Oh feed your children on crayfish and lobster tails,
Find a school near the top of the league,
In theory I respect your right to exist,
I will kill you if you move in next to me,
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust,
Oh but the takings are up by a third,
****s are still running the world,
****s are still running the world.
(****s are still running the world)
(****s are still running the world)
The free market is perfectly natural,
Do you think that I'm some kind of dummy?
It's the ideal way to order the world;
“Fuck the morals, does it make any money?”
And if you don't like it? Then leave.
Or use your right to protest on the street,
Yeah, use your right but don't imagine that it's heard,
Not whilst ****s are still running the world,
****s are still running the world,
****s are still running the world,
****s are still running the world,
****s are still running the world,
****s are still running the world,
****s are still running... the world.