THE CLASH

 

 

Ett gäng Clashlåtar.

 

 

Clash Lyrics NOT included:

 

Police And Thieves

Pressure Drop

I Fought The Law

One Emotion

Brand New Cadillac

Police On My Back

Every Little Bit Hurts

 

@SONG: JANIE JONES

 

He's in love with rock'n'roll woaahh

He's in love with gettin' stoned woaahh

He's in love with Janie Jones

But he don't like his boring job, no...

 

An' he knows what he's got to do

So he knows he's gonna have fun with you

You lucy lady!

An' he knows when the evening comes

When his job is done he'll be over in his car for you

 

An' in the in-tray lots of work

But the boss at the firm always thinks he shirks

But he's just like everyone, he's got a Ford Cortina

That just won't run without fuel

Fill her up, Jacko!

 

An' the invoice it don't quite fit,

There's no payola in his alphabetical file

This time he's gonna really tell the boss

Gonna really let him know exactly how he feels

It's pretty bad!

 

Let them know - how you feel

 

 

 

@SONG: CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

 

The offered me the office, offered me the shop

They said I'd better take anything they'd got

Do you wanna make tea at the BBC?

Do you wanna be, do you really wanna be a cop?

 

Career opportunities are the ones that never knock

Every job they offer you is to keep you out the dock

Career opportunity, the ones that never knock

 

I hate the army an' I hate the R.A.F.

I don't wanna go fighting in the tropical heat

I hate the civil service rules

And I won't open letter bombs for you

 

Bus driver....ambulance man....ticket inspector

 

They're gonna have to introduce conscription

They're gonna have to take away my prescription

If they wanna get me making toys

If they wanna get me, well, I got no choice

 

Careers

Careers

Careers

 

Ain't never gonna knock

 

 

 

@SONG: WHITE RIOT

 

White riot - I wanna riot

White riot - a riot of my own

White riot - I wanna riot

White riot - a riot of my own

 

Black people gotta lot a problems

But they don't mind throwing a brick

White people go to school

Where they teach you how to be thick

 

An' everybody's doing

Just what they're told to

An' nobody wants

To go to jail!

 

All the power's in the hands

Of people rich enough to buy it

While we walk the street

Too chicken to even try it

 

Everybody's doing

Just what they're told to

Nobody wants

To go to jail!

 

Are you taking over

or are you taking orders?

Are you going backwards

Or are you going forwards?

 

 

 

@SONG: 1977

 

In 1977 I hope I go to heaven

Cos I been too long on the dole

And I can't work at all

 

Danger stranger

You better paint your face

No Elvis, Beatles, or The Rolling Stones

In 1977

 

In 1977

Knives in West 11

Ain't so lucky to be rich

Sten guns in Knightsbridge

 

Danger stranger

You better paint your face

No Elvis, Beatles, or The Rolling Stones

In 1977

 

In 1977

You're on the never never

You think it can't go on forever

But the papers say it's better

I don't care 'cos I'm not all there

No Elvis, Beatles, or The Rolling Stones

 

In 1977

Sod the Jubilee

In 1978

In 1979

Stayed in bed

In 1980

In 1981

The toilet don't work

In 1982

In 1983

Here come the police

In 1984

 

 

 

@SONG: I'M SO BORED WITH THE U.S.A.

 

Yankee soldier

He wanna shoot some skag

He met it in Cambodia

But now he can't afford a bag

 

Yankee dollar talk

To the dictators of the world

In fact it's giving orders

An' they can't afford to miss a word

 

I'm so bored with the U...S...A...

But what can I do?

 

Yankee detectives

Are always on the TV

'Cos killers in America

Work seven days a week

 

Never mind the stars and stripes

Let's print the Watergate Tapes

I'll salute the New Wave

And I hope nobody escapes

 

I'm so bored with the U...S...A...

But what can I do?

 

Move up Starsky

For the C.I.A.

Suck on Kojak

For the USA

 

 

 

@SONG: HATE & WAR

 

Hate and war - the only things we got today

 

An' if I close my eyes

They will not go away

You have to deal with it

It is the currency

 

Hate...hate...hate...

 

The hate of a nation

A million miles from home

An' get war from the junkies

Who don't like my form

 

I'm gonna stay in the city

Even when the house fall down

I don't dream of a holiday

When hate an' war come around

 

Hate and war...

 

I have the will to survive

I cheat if I can't win

If someone locks me out

I kick my back in

 

An' if I get aggression

I give it to them two time back

Every day it's just the same

With hate an' war on my back

 

Hate and war - I hate all the English

Hate and war - they're just as bad as wops

Hate and war - I hate all the politeness

Hate and war - I hate all the cops

 

I wanna walk down any street

Looking like a creep

I don't care if I get beat up

By any Kebab Greek

 

 

 

@SONG: WHAT'S MY NAME

 

What the hell is wrong with me? I'm not who I want to be

I tired spot cream an' I tried it all I'm crawling up the wall!

 

What's my name naaaame...naaaame....naaaame....

 

I tried to join a ping-pong club, sign on the door said all full up!

I got nicked, fighting in the road an' the judge didn't even know

 

What's my name

 

Dad go pissed so I got clocked

Couldn't hear the Tannoy so he lost the lot

Offers Mum a bribe through the letter box

Drives you ****ing mad

 

What's my name

 

Now I'm round the back of your house at night

Peeping in the window - are you sleeping tight?

I laugh at your locks with my celloid strip

An' you won't know who came

 

What's my name

 

 

 

@SONG: DENY

 

Deny

You're such a liar

You won't know the truth if it hist you in the eye

Deny

You're such a liar

You're selling your no-no all the time

 

An' you said we were going out

To the 100 club

Then you said "It ain't my scene"

But then you turned up alone

Then you turned up alone

 

Then you said you'd given it up

Gone an' kicked it in the head

You said you ain't had none for weeks

But baby I seen your arms

Baby I seen your arms

 

Do you think I'm a raving idiot?

Just got off the boat

Step in line, sign this form - you ain't got a hope

Baby ain't got a hope - you ain't got a hope

 

What a liar - Deny

What a liar

 

 

 

@SONG: LONDON'S BURNING

 

London's burning! London's burning!

 

All across the town, all across the night

Everybody's driving with full headlights

Black or white turn it on, face the new religion

Everybody's sitting 'round watching television!

 

London's burning with boredom now

London's burning dial 99999

 

I'm up and down the Westway, in an' out the lights

What a great traffic system - it's so bright

I can't think of a better way to spend the night

Then speeding around underneath the yellow lights

 

London's burning with boredom now

London's burning dial 99999

 

Now I'm in the subway and I'm looking for the flat

This one leads to this block, this one leads to that

The wind howls through the empty blocks looking for a home

I run through the empty stone because I'm all alone

 

 

London's burning with boredom now...

London's burning dial 99999

 

 

 

@SONG: PROTEX BLUE

 

Standing in the bog of a West End bar

Guy on the right leaning over too far

Money in my pocket gonna put it in the slot

Open up the pack see what type I got

 

I didn't want to hold you

I didn't want to use you

Protex, Protex Blue

All I wanna do

 

It's a fab protective for that type of a girl

But everybody knows that se uses it well

It's the therapeutic structure I can use at will

But I don't think it fits my B.D. Drill

 

Sitting in a carriage of a Bakerloo

Erotica my pocket got a packet for you

Advert on the escalator on my way home

I don't need no skin flicks, I wanna be alone

 

I didn't want to hold you

I didn't want to use you

Protex, Protex Blue

All I wanna do

 

Johnny, Johnny

 

 

 

@SONG: 48 HOURS

 

Friday or Saturday, what does that mean

Short space of time needs a heavy scene

Monday is coming like a jail on wheels

48 hours need 48

48 hours need 48

48 hours need 48

Thrills

48 thrills

 

So tell me an' I'll take the tube

You know a girl, yeah well she's bound to be rude

Can't get nothing at the places I've been

 

I've combed this town from top to bottom

I try to get around but my legs are broken

Every time I miss it 'cos I ain't got a ticket

 

48 hours need 48 thrills

Kicking for kicks

 

 

 

@SONG: CHEAT

 

I get violent when I'm ****ed up

I get silent when I'm drugged up

Want excitement, don't get none, I got wild

 

I don't know what can be done about it

If you play the game you get nothing out of it

Find out for yourself try bein' a goody goody

 

You better cheat cheat

No reason to play fair

Cheat cheat or don't get anywhere

Cheat cheat if you can't win

 

Nobody knows what they are doing

It's beyond your control, an' Friday night's a ruin

If you wanna survive you better learn how to lie

 

Don't use the rules

They're not for you, they're for the fools

And you're a fool if you don't know that

So use the rule you stupid fool

 

 

 

@SONG: GARAGELAND

 

Back in the garage with my bull**** detector

Carbon monoxide making sure it's effective

People ringing up making offers for my life

But I just wanna stay in the garage all night

 

We're a garage band

We come from garageland

 

Meanwhile things are hotting up in the West End alright

Contracts in the offices, groups in the night

My bummin' slummin' friends have all got new boots

An' someone just asked me if the group would wear suits

 

I don't wanna hear about what the rich are doing

I don't wanna go to where the rich are going

They think they're so clever, they think they're so right

But the truth is only know by guttersnipes

 

There's twenty-two singers! But one microphone

Back in the garage

There's five guitar players! But one guitar

Back in the garage

Complaints! Complaints! Wot an old bag

Back in the garage

All night

 

 

 

@SONG: CAPITAL RADIO ONE

 

Yes, it's time for the Dr. Goebbels show!

 

There's a tower in the heart of London

With a radio station right at the top

They don't make the city beat

They're making all the action stop

 

A long time aga there were pirates

Beaming waves from the sea

But now all the stations are silenced

'Cos they ain't got a government license

 

Wanna tell your problems

Phone in from your bedsit room

Having trouble with your partner

Let us all in on the news

 

If you wanna hear a record

Get the word from Aiden Day

He picks all the hits to play

To keep you in your place all day

Capital Radio

In tune with nothing

Don't touch that dial

 

 

 

 

@SONG: COMPLETE CONTROL

 

They said release "Remote Control"

But we didn't want it on the label

They said, "Fly to Amsterdam"

The people laughed but the press went mad

 

Ooh ooh ooh someone's really smart

Ooh ooh ooh complete control, that's a laugh

 

On the last tour my mates couldn't get in

I'd open up the back door but they'd get run out again

At every hotel we was met by the Law

Come for the party - come to make sure!

 

Ooh ooh ooh have we done something wrong?

Ooh ooh ooh complete control, even over this song

 

They said we'd be artistically free

When we signed that bit of paper

They meant let's make a lotsa mon-ee

An' worry about it later

 

Ooh ooh ooh I'll never understand

Ooh ooh ooh complete control - lemme see your other hand!

 

All over the news spread fast

They're dirty, they're filthy

They ain't gonna last!

 

This is Joe Public speaking

I'm controlled in the body, controlled in the mind

 

Total

C-o-n control - that means you!

 

 

 

 

@SONG: CLASH CITY ROCKERS

 

I wanna move the town to the clash city rockers

You need a little jump of electrical shockers

You better leave town if you only wanna knock us

Nothing stands the pressure of the clash city rockers

 

You see the rate they come down the escalator

Now listen to the tube train accelerator

Then you realise that you got to have a purpose

Or this place is gonna knock you out sooner or later

 

So don't complain about your useless employment

Jack it in forever tonight

Or shut your mouth and pretend you enjoy it

Think of all the money you've got

 

An' I wanna liquefy everybody gone dry

Or plug into the aerials that poke up in the sky

Or burn down the suburbs with the half-closed eyes

You won't succeed unless you try

 

You owe me a move say the bells of St. Groove

Come on and show me say the bells of Old Bowie

When I am fitter say the bells of Gary Glitter

No one but you and I say the bells of Prince Far-I

No one but you and I say the bells of Prince Far-I

 

An' I wanna move the town to the clash city rockers

You need a little jump of electrical shockers

You better leave town if you only wanna knock us

Nothing stands the pressure of the clash city rockers

 

 

 

 

@SONG: CITY OF THE DEAD

 

This is the city of the dead

As we lie side by side in bed

I'd do something else instead

But it is the city of the dead

 

We went out kickin' around

But you got drunk an' fallen down

An' I wished I could be like you

With the Soho River drinking me down

 

 

In the city of the dead

Fall in love an' fall in bed

It wasn't anything you said

Except I know we both lie dead

 

Don't you know where to cop

That's what New York Johnny said (<- Johnny Thunders)

You should get to know your town

Just like I know mine

 

While all the windows stare ahead

An' the streets are filled with dread

Every nation in the world

Slinks through the alley after girls

 

What we wear is dangerous gear

It'll get you picked on anywhere

Though we get beat up we don't care

At least it livens up the air

 

But somedays we hide inside

All courage gone and paralysed

Sniff that wind of ugly tension

Today the jerks have got aggression

 

It is the city of the dead

 

 

 

 

@SONG: JAIL GUITAR DOORS

 

Let me tell you 'bout Wayne and his deals of cocaine

A little more every day

Holding for a friend till the band do well

Then the D.E.A. locked him away

 

Clang clang, go the jail guitar doors

Bang bang, go the boots on the floor

Cry cry, for your lonely mother's son

Clang clang, go the jail guitar doors

 

An' I'll tell you 'bout Pete, didn't want no fame

Gave all his money away

"Well there's something wrong, it'll be good for you, son"

And so they certified him insane

 

And then there's Keith, waiting for trial

Twenty-five thousand bail

If he goes down you won't hear his sound

But his friends carry on anyway

**** 'em!

Jail guitar doors

54/46 was my number

Jail guitar doors

Right now someone else has that number

 

 

 

 

@SONG: THE PRISONER

 

The prisoner meets the muppet hi-fi

North of Watford Junction

We get in but we don't have fun

An' we leave before the truncheons

So it's back to watch the day to day

Saga of working people

Hanging out the washing and clipping coupons

And generally being decent

 

Johnny too bad meets Johnny be good

In the Charing Cross Road

That's the only thing that happened today

Says the West End jungle code

And all the Germans and all the French

Jam themselves down the tube

And re-enact the Second World War

While the rude boys get rude!

 

And I look to my left

And I look to my right

And I'm looking for a man

I'm looking for a sign

I don't wanna be the prisoner

 

The prisoner lives in Camden Town

Selling revolution

The prisoner loads his tracking arm up

With self-disillusion

Your mother does the washing up

Your old man digs the garden

You're only free to dodge the cops

An' bunk the train to stardom

 

 

 

 

@SONG: WHITE MAN IN HAMMERSMITH PALAIS

 

Midnight to six man

For the first time from Jamaica

Dillinger and Leroy Smart

Delroy Wilson, your cool operator

 

Ken Boothe for UK pop reggae

With backing bands sound systems

And if they've got anything to say

There's many black ears here to listen

 

But it was Four Tops all night with encores from stage right

Charging from the bass knives to the treble

But onstage they ain't got no roots rock rebel

Onstage they ain't got no...roots rock rebel

 

Dress back jump back this is a bluebeat attack

'Cos it won't get you anywhere

Fooling with your guns

The British Army is waiting out there

An' it weighs fifteen hundred tons

 

White youth, black youth

Better find another solution

Why not phone up Robin Hood

And ask him for some wealth distribution

 

Punk rockers in the UK

They won't notice anyway

They're all too busy fighting

For a good place under the lighting

 

The new groups are not concerned

With what there is to be learned

They got Burton suits, ha you think it's funny

Turning rebellion into money

 

All over people changing their votes

Along with their overcoats

If Adolf Hitler flew in today

They'd send a limousine anyway

 

I'm the all night drug-prowling wolf

Who looks so sick in the sun

I'm the white man in the Palais

Just lookin' for fun

 

I'm only

Looking for fun

 

 

 

@SONG: 1-2 CRUSH ON YOU

 

Standing in a queue of a school canteen

Guys on the corner they were laughin' at me

But I don't mind if they see it all

You know I gotta come clean

I gotta come clean

I got a crush on you

 

My mind don't need it but my body do

A little bit of loving and attention for you

Although we're only strangers

They don't need to know

I gotta cum clean, I gotta cum clean

Ooh, I got a crush on you

 

I wanna get serious right away

1-2, I got a crush on you

what you doin' today or any other day?

1-2, I got a crush on you

Just one look and I go insane

1-2, I got a crush on you

 

Your Daddy never comes to get you

'Cos he lives so far away

But his I-talian chauffeur shows up every day

But I'll get you in the corner, I'll get you all alone

I gotta cum clean, I gotta cum clean

Ooh, I got a crush on you

 

1-2, I got a crush on you - one

2, I got a crush on you - one

2, I got a crush on you

I said 1-2

I got a crush on you

 

Why should I get a crush on you?

 

 

 

 

@SONG: ENGLISH CIVIL WAR

 

When Johnny comes marching home again

He's coming by bus or underground

A woman's eye will she a tear

To see his face os beaten in fear

An' it was just around the corner in the English Civil War

It was still at the stage of clubs and fists

When that well-known face got beaten to bits

Your face was blue in the light of the screen

As we watched the speech of an animal scream

The new party army was marching right over our heads

 

Alright

 

There your are, ha ha, I told you so

Says everybody that we know

But who hid a radio under the stairs

An' who got caught out on their unawares?

When that new party army cam marching right up the stairs

 

When Johnny comes marching home again

Nobody understands it can happen again

The sun is shining an' the kids are shouting loud

But you gotta know it's shining through a crack in the cloud

And the shadows keep falling when Johnny comes marching home

 

 

 

 

@SONG: SAFE EUROPEAN HOME

 

Well, I just got back an' I wish I never leave now

Who dat Martian arrival at the airport?

How many local dollars for a local anaesthetic?

The Johnny on the corner was a very sympathetic

 

I went to the place where every white face is an invitation

To robbery

An's sitting here in my safe European home

I don't wanna go back there again

 

Wasn't I lucky n' wouldn't it be loverly?

Send us all cards, an' have a laying in on a Sunday

I was there for two weeks, so how come I never tell

That natty dread drinks at the Sheraton Hotel?

 

Now they got the sun, an' they got the palm trees

They got the weed, an' they got the taxis

Whoa, the harder the come, n' the home of ol' bluebeat

Yes I'd stay an' be a tourist but I can't take the gunplay

 

 

 

 

@SONG: TOMMY GUN

Tommy gun - he ain't happy less he got one

Tommy gun - he ain't gonna shoot the place up just for fun

Maybe he wants to die - for the money

Maybe he wants to kill - for his country

Whatever he wants, he's gonna get it!

 

Tommy gun - you better strip it down for a custom run

Tommy gun - waiting in the airport 'till Kingdom Come

An' we can watch you make it on the nine o'clock news

Standing there in Palestine lighting the fuse

Whatever you want, you're gonna get it

 

Tommy gun - you'll be dead when your war is won

Tommy gun - but did you have gun down everyone?

I can see it's kill or be killed

A nation of destiny has got to be fulfilled

Whatever you want, you're gonna get it!

 

 

Tommy gun - you can be a hero in an age of none

Tommy gun - I'm cutting out your picture from page one

I' gonna get a jacket just like yours

An' give my false support to your cause

Whatever you want, you're gonna get it!

 

Boats an' tanks and planes, it's your game

Kings an' Queens an' Generals learn your name

I see all the innocents, the human sacrifice

And if death comes so cheap, then the same goes for live!

 

 

 

 

@SONG: JULIE'S IN THE DRUG SQUAD

 

It's Lucy in the sky and all kinds of apple pie

She giggles at the screen 'cos it looks so green

There's carpets on the pavements

And feathers in her eye

But sooner or later, her new friends will realise

That Julie's been working for the drug squad

 

Well it seemed like a dream, too good to be true

Stash it in the bank with the tablets grow high

In their millions

And everybody's high (Hi, man...)

But there's someone looking down

From that mountainside

'Cos Julie's been working fro the drug squad

And it's ten years for you

Nineteen for you

And you can get out in twenty-five

That is if you're still alive

 

An' then there came the night of the greatest ever raid

They arrested every drug that had ever been made

They took eighty-two laws

Through eight-two doors

And they didn't halt the pull

Till the cells were all full

'Cos Julie was working for the drug squad

 

They put him in a cell, they said you wait here

You've got the time to count all of your hair

You've got fifteen years

A mighty long time

You could have been a physicist

But now your name is on the mailbag list

Julie's been working for the drug squad

 

Gumbo!

 

 

 

 

@SONG: STAY FREE

 

We met when we were in school

Never took no **** from no one, we weren't fools

The teacher says we're dumb

We're only having fun

We piss on everyone

In the classroom

 

When we got thrown out I left without much fuss

An' weekends we'd go dancing

Down Streatham on the bus

You always made me laugh

Got me in bad fights

Play me pool all night

Smokin' menthol

 

I practised daily in my room

You were down The Crown planning your next move

Go on a nicking spree

Hit the wrong guy

Each of you get three

Years in Brixton

I did my very best to write

How was Butlins?

Were the screws too tight?

When you lot get out

We're gonna hit the town

We'll burn it ****in' down

To a cinder

 

Cos years have passed and things have changed

And I move anyway I wanna go

I'll never forget the feeling I got

When I heard that you'd got home

An' I'll never forget the smile on my face

'Cos I knew where you would be

An' if you're in The Crown tonight

Have a drink on me

But go easy...step lightly...stay free

 

 

 

 

@SONG: GROOVY TIMES

 

 

The High Street shops are boarded up

An' the Terrace it is fenced in

See-through shields are walled across

The way that you came in

But there's no need to get excited

As the lorries bring the bacon in

'Cos the housewives are all singing

Groovy times are here again

 

They discovered one black Saturday

That mobs don't march they run

So you can excuse the nervous triggerman

Just this once for jumping the gun

As they were picking up the dead

Out of the broken glass

Yes it's Number One, the radio said

Groovy times have come to pass!

 

Groovy times groovy times groovy times

 

The intake is on the uptake

The acceleration's pretty grim

I can remember his first appearance

Now look what's happened to him

So they put him in a dog suit

Like from 1964

The King of Early Evening TV

Groovy times forever more

 

Groovy times

 

 

 

 

@SONG: GATES OF THE WEST

 

I would love to be the lucky one on Chill Avenue

Who could keep your hear warm when ice has turned it blue

But with the beggin' sleeping losers as they turn in for the night

I'm looking back for home and I can see the lights

 

I should be jumpin' shoutin' that I made it all this way

From Camden Town station to 44th and 8th

Not many make it this far and many say we're great

But just like them we walk on an' we can't escape our fate

 

Can't you hear the sighing

Eastside Jimmy and Southside Sue

Both say they needed something new

 

So I'm standing at the gates of the west

I burn money at the lights of the sign

The city casts a shadow of the perfect crime

I'm standing at the gates of the east

I take my pulse and the pulse of my friend

The city casts a shadow, will I see you again?

 

The immigrants an' remnants of all the glory years

Are clustered around the bar again for another round of beers

Little Richard's in the kitchen playing spoons and plates

He's telling the waitress he's great

 

Ah say I know somewhere back'n'forth in time

Out on the dustbowls, deep in the roulette mine

Or in a ghetto cellar only yesterday

There's a move into the future for the U.S.A.

 

I hear them crying

Eastside Jimmy and Southside Sue

Both say they needed something new

 

Standing at the gates of the west

In the shadow again

I'm standing at the gates of the west

In the shadow again

 

 

 

 

@SONG: LONDON CALLING

 

London calling to the faraway towns

Now that war is declared and battle come down

London calling to the underworld

Come out of the cupboard, all you boys and girls

London calling, now don't look to us

Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust

London calling, see we ain't got no swing

Except for the ring of that truncheon thing

 

The ice age is coming, the sun's zooming in

Meltdown expected the wheat is growing thin

Engines stop running but I have no fear

Cos London is drowning and I live by the water

 

London calling to the imitation zone

Forget it brother, you can got it alone

London calling to the zombies of death

Quit holding out and draw another breath

London calling and I don't wanna shout

But while we were talking I saw you noddin' out

London calling, see we ain't got no highs

Except for that one with the yellowy eyes

 

The ice age is coming, the sun's zooming in

Engines stop running the wheat is growing thin

A nuclear error but I have no fear

Cos London is drowning and I live by the river

 

Now get this

London calling, yes I was there too

An' you know what they said - well some of it was true!

London calling at the top of the dial

An' after all this, won't you give me a smile?

 

I never felt so much a' like...

 

 

 

 

@SONG: RUDIE CAN'T FAIL

 

Sing, Michael, sing! - on the route of the 19 bus!

Hear them sayin'

How you get a-rude and a-reckless

Don't you be so crude and a-feckless

You bin drinking brew for breakfast

Rudie can't fail

 

So we reply

I know that my life make you nervous

But I tell you that I can't live in service

Like the doctor who was born for a purpose (<- Doctor Alimantado)

Rudie can't fail

 

I went to the market to realise my soul

'Cause what I need I just don't have

First they curse, then they press me till I hurt

We say Rudie can't fail

 

We hear them sayin'

Now first you must cure your temper

Then you find a job in the paper

You need someone for a saviour

Oh Rudie can't fail

 

We reply

Now we get a-rude and a-reckless

We been seen lookin' cool an' a speckless

We been drinking brew for breakfast

So Rudie can't fail

 

Okay!

So where you wanna go today

Hey boss man!

You're looking pretty smart

In your chicken skin suit

You think you're pretty hot

In your pork pie hat

But...Rudie can't fail

Lookout, lookout

Skyjuice!...10c a bottle

 

 

 

 

@SONG: THE GUNS OF BRIXTON

 

When they kick at your front door

How you gonna come?

With your hands on your head

Or on the trigger of your gun?

When the law break in

How you gonna go?

Shot down on the pavement

Or waiting on death row

 

You can crush us

You can crush us

But you'll have to answer to

Oh, the guns of Brixton

 

The money feels good and your life you like it well

But surely your time will come

As in heaven, as in hell

 

You see he feels like Ivan

Born under the Brixton sun

His game is called survivin'

At the end of the harder they come

 

You know it means no mercy

They caught him with a gun

No need for the Black Maria

Goodbye to the Brixton sun

 

You can crush us

You can bruise us

Yes, even shoot us

But oh, the guns of Brixton

 

 

 

 

@SONG: SPANISH BOMBS

 

Spanish songs in Andalucâa

The shooting sites in the days of '39

Oh, please leave the Vendanna open

Fredrico Lorca is dead and gone

Bullet holes in the cemetery walls

The black cars of the Guardia Civil

Spanish bombs on the Costa Rica

I'm flying in on a DC10 tonight

 

Spanish bombs, yo te quiero y finito

Yo te querda, oh mi Coraz¢n

Spanish bombs, yo te quiero y finito

Yo te querda, oh mi Coraz¢n

 

Spanish weeks in my disco casino

The freedom fighters died up on the hill

The sang the red flag, they wore the black one

But after they died it was Mockingbird Hill

Back home the buses went up in flashes

The Irish tomb was drenched in blood

Spanish bombs shatter the hotel

My se§orita's rose was nipped in the bud

 

The hillsides ring with "Free the People"

Or can I hear the echo from the days of '39?

With trenches full of poets, the ragged army

Fixin' bayonets to fight the other line

Spanish bombs rock the province

I'm hearing music from another time

Spanish bombs on the Costa Brava

I'm flying in on a DC10 tonight

 

Spanish songs in Andalucâa, Mandolina, oh mi Coraz¢n

Spanish songs in Granada

Oh mi Coraz¢n

 

 

 

 

@SONG: LOST IN THE SUPERMARKET

 

I'm all lost in the supermarket

I can no longer shop happily

I came in here for the special offer

A guaranteed personality

 

I wasn't born so much as I fell out

Nobody seemed to notice me

We had a hedge back home in the suburb

Over which I never could see

 

I heard the people who live on the ceiling

Scream and fight most scarily

Hearing that noise was my firs ever feeling

That's how it's been all around me

 

I'm all tuned in, I see all the programmes

I save coupons from packets of tea

I've got my giant hit discotheque album

I empty a bottle I feel a bit free

 

The kids in the halls and the popes in he walls

make me noises for company

Long distance callers make long distance calls

And the silence makes me lonely

 

It's not here

It disappear

 

I'm all lost

 

 

 

 

@SONG: THE RIGHT PEOPLE

 

Say, where did I see this guy?

In Red River?

Or A Place in the Sun?

Maybe The Misfits?

Or From Here to Eternity?

Everybody say, "Is he alright?"

And everybody say, "What's he like?"

Everybody say, "He sure looks funny!"

"That's...Montgomery Clift, Honey!"

 

New York, New York, 42nd Street

Hustlers rustle and pimps pimp the beat

Monty Clift is recognised at dawn

He ain't got no shoes and his clothes are torn

 

I see a car smashed at night

Cut the applause and dim the light

Monty's face is broken on a wheel

Is he alive? Can he still feel?

 

And everybody say "Is he alright"

Everybody say "Shine a light"

Everybody day "It's not funny"

That's Montgomery Clift honey

 

 

Shoot his right profile

 

Nembutol numbs it all

But I prefer alcohol

 

He said go out and get me my old movie stills

Go out and get me another roll of pills

There I go shaking but I ain't got the chills

Arrrghhhgorra buh bhuh do arrrrgggghhhhnnnn!!!!

 

 

 

@SONG: THE CARD CHEAT

 

There's a solitary man crying "Hold me"

It's only because he's a-lonely

If the keeper of time runs slowly

He won't be alive for long!

 

If he only had time to tell of all the things he planned

With a card up his sleeve, what would he achieve?

It means nothing!

 

To the opium den and the bar room gin

In the Belmont chair playing violins

The gambler's face cracks into a grin

As he lays down the King of Spades

 

But the dealer just stares - there's something wrong here,

He thinks

The gambler is seized an forced to hi knees

And shot - dead

 

He only wanted more time away from the darkest door

But his luck it gave in as the dawn light crept in

And he lay on the floor

 

From the Hundred Year War to the Crimea

With a lance and a musket and a Roman spear

To all of the men who have stood with no fear

In the service of the king

 

Before you met your fate be sure you did not forsake

Your lover may not be around anymore

 

 

 

 

@SONG: DEATH OR GLORY

 

Now every cheap hood strikes a bargain with the world

And ends up making payments on a sofa or a girl

Love 'n' hate tattooed across the knuckles of his hands

The hands that slap his kids around 'cos they don't

Understand...

How death or glory becomes just another story

Death or glory becomes just another story

 

'N' every gimmick-hungry yob digging gold from

Rock 'n' roll

Grabs the mike to tell us he'll die before he's sold

But I believe in this, and it's been tested by research

That he who ****s nuns will later join the church

Death or glory becomes just another story

 

In every dingy basement on every dingy street

I hear every dragging handclap over every dragging beat

That' just the beat of time, the beat that must go on

If you been trying for years - then we already heard your song

 

 

 

@SONG: CLAMPDOWN

 

What are we gonna do now?!...

Taking off his turban, they said is this man a Jew?

'Cos they're working for the clampdown

They put up a poster saying we earn more than you!

When we're working for the clampdown

We will teach our twisted speech

To the young believers

We will train our blue-eyed man

To be you believers

 

The judge said five-to-ten but I say double that again

I'm not working for the clampdown

No man born with a living soul

Can be working for the clampdown

Kick over the wall, cause governments to fall

How can you refuse it?

Let fury have the hour, anger can be power

D'you know that you can use it?

 

The voices in your head are calling

Stop wasting your time there's nothing coming

Only a fool would think someone could save you

The men at the factory are old and cunning

You don't owe nothing, so boy get runnin'

It's the best years of your life they want to steal

 

You grow up and you calm down

You're working for the clampdown

You start wearing blue and brown

And working for the clampdown

So you got someone to boss around

It makes you feel big now

You drift until you brutalise

Make your first kill now

 

In these days of evil presidentes , , ,

Working for the clampdown

But lately one or two has fully paid their due

For working for the clampdown

But ha! Gitalong! Gitalong!

 

And I've given away no secrets. Who's barmy now?

 

 

 

@SONG: TRAIN IN VAIN

 

You say you stand by your man

Tell me something, I don't understand

You said you loved me, and that's a fact

And then you left me, said you felt trapped

Well, some things you can't explain away

But the heartache's in me till this day

 

You didn't stand by me

No, not at all

You didn't stand by me

No way

All the times when we were close

I'll remember these things the most

I see all my dreams come tumblin' down

I can't be happy without you around

So alone, I keep the wolves at bay

And there's only one thing I can say

 

You must explain why this must be

Did you lie when you spoke to me

Did you stand by me?

No, not at all

 

Now I got a job, but it don't pay

I need new clothes, I need somewhere to stay

But without all of these things I can do

But without your love, I won't make it through

But you don't understand my point of view

I suppose there's nothing I can do

 

You must explain why thins must be

Did you lie when you spoke to me?

 

Did you stand by me?

 

 

 

@SONG: BANKROBBER

 

My 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

That's the way the world is

But I don't believe in lying back

Sayin' how bad your luck is

 

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

 

The old man spoke up in a bar

Said I never been in prison

A lifetime serving one machine

Is ten times worse than prison

 

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

 

Someday you'll meet your rocking chair

Cos that's where we're spinning

There's no point to wanna comb your hair

When it's grey and thinning

 

Run rabbit run

Strike out boys, for the hills

I can find that hole in the wall

And I know that they never will

 

 

 

@SONG: THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

 

Ring! Ring! It's 7:00 am

Move y'self to go again

Cold water in the face

Brings you back to this awful place

Knuckle merchants and you bankers, too

Must get up an' learn those rules

Weather man and the crazy chief

One says sun and one says sleet

AM, the FM the PM too

Churning out that boogaloo

Gets you up and gets you out

But how long can you keep it up?

Gimme Honda, Gimme Sony

So cheap and real phony

Hong Kong dollars and Indian cents

English pounds and Eskimo pence

 

You lot! What?

Don't stop! Give it all you got!

You lot! What?

Don't stop! Yeah!

 

Working for a rise, better my station

Take my baby to sophistication

She's seen the ads, she thinks it's nice

Better work hard - I seen the price

Never mind that it's time for the bus

We got to work - an' you're one of us

Clocks go slow in a place of work

Minutes drag and the hours jerk

 

"When can I tell 'em wot I do?

In a second, maaan...oright Chuck!"

 

Wave bub-bub-bub-bye to the boss

It's our profit, it's his loss

But anyway lunch bells ring

Take one hour and do your thanng!

Cheeesboiger!

 

What do we have for entertainment?

Cops kickin' Gypsies on the pavement

Now the news - snap to attention!

The lunar landing of the dentist convention

Italian mobster shoots a lobster

Seafood restaurant gets out of hand

A car in the fridge

Or a fridge in the car?

Like cowboys do in TV land

 

You lot! What? Don't stop. Huh?

 

So get back to work an' sweat some more

The sun will sink an' we'll get out the door

It's no good for man to work in cages

Hits the town, he drinks his wages

You're frettin', you're sweatin'

But did you notice you ain't gettin'?

Don't you ever stop long enough to start?

To take your car outta that gear

Don't you ever stop long enough to start?

To get your car outta that gear

Karlo Marx and Friedrich Engels

Came to the checkout at the 7-11

Marx was skint but he had sense

Engels lent him the necessary pence

 

What have we got? Yeh-o, magnificence!!

 

Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi

Went to the park to check on the game

But they was murdered by the other team

Who went on to wing 50-nil

You can be true, you can be false

You be given the same reward

Socrates and Milhous Nixon

Both went the same way - through the kitchen

Plato the Greek or Rin Tin Tin

Who's more famous to the billion millions?

News Flash: Vacuum Cleaner Sucks Up Budgie

Oooohh...bub-bye

 

Magnificence!!

 

****ing long, innit?

 

 

 

@SONG: THE LEADER

 

Atom secrets, secret leaflet

Have the boys found the leak yet?

The molehill sets the wheel in motion

His downfall picks up locomotion

 

The people must have something good to read on a Sunday

 

The leader's wife takes a government car

In the dark to meet her minister

But the leader never leaves his door ajar

As he swings his whip from the Boer War

 

He wore a leather mask for his dinner guests

Totally nude and with deep respect

Proposed a toast to the votes he gets

The feeling of power and the thought of sex!

 

Now the girl let the fat man touch her

Vodka fumes and the feel of a vulture

The driver waited in the embassy car

The fat man's trap was set for capture

So the girl let the thin man touch her

Mixing questions, drunken laughter

The ministry car was waiting there

A minister knows his own affair

 

The people must have something good to read on a Sunday

 

 

 

@SONG: THE CALL UP

 

It's up to you not to heed the call-up

'N' you must not act the way you were brought up

Who knows the reasons why you have grown up?

Who knows the plans or why they were drawn up?

 

It's up to you not to heed the call-up

I don't wanna die!

It's up to you not to hear the call-up

I don't wanna kill!

 

For he who will die

Is he who will kill

 

Maybe I wanna see the wheatfields

Over Kiev and down to the sea

 

All the young people down the ages

They gladly marched off to die

Proud city fathers used to watch them

Tears in their eyes

 

There is a rose that I want to live for

Although, God knows, I may not have met her

There is a dance an' I should be with her

There is a town - unlike any other

 

It's up to you not to hear the call-up

'N' you must not act the way you were brought up

Who give you work an' why should you do it?

At fifty-five minutes past eleven

There is a rose...

 

Yeah!

 

 

@SONG: SOMEBODY GOT MURDERED

 

Someone lights a cigarette

While riding in a car

Some ol' guy takes a swig

And passes back the jar

But where they were last night

No-one can remember

Somebody got murdered

Goodbye, for keeps, forever

 

Somebody got murdered

Somebody's dead forever

 

And you're minding your own business

Carrying spare change

You wouldn't cosh a barber

You're hungry all the same

I been very tempted

To grab it from the till

I been very hungry

But not enough to kill

 

Somebody got murdered

His name cannot be found

A small stain on the pavement

They'll scrub it off the ground

As the daily crown disperse

No-one says that much

Somebody got murdered

And it' left me with a touch

 

Somebody got murdered

Somebody's dead forever

Sounds like murder!

Those shouts!

Are they drunk down below?

 

It's late, and my watch stopped

Some time ago

Sounds like murder!

Those screams!

Are they drunk down below?

 

 

 

@SONG: WASHINGTON BULLETS

 

Oh! Mama, Mama look there!

Your children are playing in that street again

Don't you know shat happened down there?

A youth of fourteen got shot down there

The Kokane guns of Jamdown Town

The killing clowns, the blood money men

Are shooting those Washington bullets again

 

As every cell in Chile will tell

The cries of the tortured men

Remember Allende, and the days before,

Before the army came

Please remember Victor Jara,

In the Santiago Stadium,

Es Verdas - those Washington Bullets again

 

And in the Bay of Pigs in 1961,

Havana for the playboys in the Cuban sun,

For Castro is a colour,

Is a redder than red,

Those Washington bullets want Castro dead

For Castro is the colour...

...That will earn you a spray of lead

 

For the very first time ever,

When they had a revolution in Nicaragua,

There was no interference from America

Human rights in America

 

Well the people fought the leader,

And up he flew...

With no Washington bullets what else could he do?

 

'N' if you can find a Afghan rebel

That the Moscow bullets missed

Ask him what he thinks of voting Communist...

...Ask the Dalai Lama in the hills of Tibet,

How many monks did the Chinese get?

In a war-torn swamp stop any mercenary,

'N' check the British bullets in his armoury

Sandinista!

Que?

 

 

@SONG: BROADWAY

 

"It ain't my fault

It's 6 'o'clock in the morning"

He said

As he came up out of the night

 

When he found I had no coins to bum,

He began to testify -

Born in a depression

Born out of good luck

Born into misery

- In the back of a truck..

 

I'm telling you this mister

Don't be put off by looks

I been in the ring and I took those right hooks

 

Oh the loneliness

Used to knock me out - harder than the rest

 

And I've worked for breakfast

'N I ain't had no lunch

I been on delivery and received every punch

 

Suddenly I noticed that it weren't quite the same

Feel different one morning maybe it was the rain

 

But everywhere I looked all over the city

They're funnin' in an out of the bars

Someone stopped for a pick-up driving one of those cars

Y'see I allways wanted one of those cars

Long black 'n shiny an' pull up to the bars

Honk your horn, put down your windows, push yer button,

Hear it coming in

You can say I can see the light... roll!

Forward! Drive! Green lights! Green lights!

Intersection city coming a running comeback home I run back

Not that strong now

Yes who's there now, can I help you? Calling Intel station light

 

Did you put your money in? Yes I put it in

It say go, I say go, she say go, so we say go

Cos I can see the light all night tonight this night right now

Coming on forward motion across the ocean

An up the hills yeh boys let's strike for the hills

While that petrol tank is full

Gimme a push gimme a pull

Gimme a llama gimme a mule

Gimme a donkey or gimme a horse

 

Down the avenue

So fine

In style

 

 

 

@SONG: LIGHTNING STRIKES (NOT ONCE BUT TWICE)

 

Now lightning strikes in old New York

It may be dark but I wanna talk

It might rain, it might snow

Too many things I got to know

If this is spring than it's time to sing

Never mind the l'il birdies wing

Look out, look out, old New York

New York's coming an' New York talks

Hey! Strike! Not once...

Strike! But twice!

 

Get out your money - peel a slab

Roll some notes an' hail a cab

Drive in church drive in back

Drive down Seventh in a tank

Take in the sights, feel the breeze

See New York's one and only tree

It can be found in Garbage park

But don't inspect it after dark

Strike! New York! Lightning!

Not once but twice.

 

Accidental hike in the transit strike

Roller skate or ride a bike

Three to a car, Brooklyn Bridge

You won't get far if you're privileged

Graffiti Jack sprays in black

An Englishman can he read it back?

Deli Joe he ought to know

He runs the gang on Pastrami Row

Strike! Lightning strike!

 

Because glass to glass, street to street

Buildings touch St. Peter's feet

From car to bar, prez to shah

Everything is in the jar

The 4 winds blow cos the 4 winds know

Takes a special hustle to make a roll

Honey girl on her feet

I wish everything to make her sweet

Strike! Twice! OK so roll!

From Harlem! Strike one!

 

Harlem slum to penthouse block

On every door I already knocked

There wasn't anybody that I didn't leave alone

Somebody lying under every stone

Everything that a man could need

In a bag down by my knee

That looks good, this ain't got seeds

Cheaper than booze down in the bowery

Lightning strike! Old New York!

Everything's light! Strike!

 

Hey ho such a night

I'll see y'all when the lightning strike

A poloroid caught in the act

You're married too and that's a fact

But I won't peek and I won't squeek

Down by the trucks on Christopher Street

It's Cuban Day - Oi Vey

Chinese New Year let's call it a day

Tootsie! Hey Chi man!

That melody is Puerto Rican

He Chi man is what he's speaking

An' there's the road down into London Town

Where many cars get broken down

It's the Westway from Ladbroke Grove

Runs down to Old Hounslow

Just thought I'd mention the new extention

That run's down the 59th street intersection

Did you hear the news y'all?

London Town on the Broadway!

 

 

 

@SONG: STOP THE WORLD

 

The panorama of the city is wrong

In fact the city seems to be gone!

Burning rubber and smoke in my eyes

There's a flat burning junkheap for twenty square miles!

They took it into the nuclear mine

Judging by this, they left nothing behind

Down in the bunkers in the crust of the earth

Now crouch the wealthy and the noble of birth

 

If I could a ride a train around the city

That holds this as our fate

I'd ride from electro-circuit central

To the shock inducer gate

Not forgetting the by-pass

Across the Washington hooks

Through the phones and desks and screens

Of the Kremlin's crook of crooks

 

There's some panel in a circuit board

Destination of the override

Scanning the wild wind

Blowing through the berlin corridor

Spotlit in a palace, shielded from dust

Malfunction or not, the failsafe is the crux

So far away from us, shaking with the mystery tears

One lonely night in Ladbroke Grove

Far away in the deserts of Omaha!

They got it nailed down - Swiss tight!

The bank nots of Europe

The Emperors and Kings

Curl in the Autumn - as the burning of leaves

And I've cleaned my black guitar...

 

 

 

@SONG: MIDNIGHT TO STEVENS

 

I searched through the drinkers

Each propped over his glass

I ran through each bar

Until I found guy at last

Guy you've been to the doctor

No I don't think it wise

took one of his pills

Boiled the blood in my eyes.

 

When you played the master mix

To the company man

Took three million worldwide

To make him understand

You don't work for peanuts

But they'll push you too

It's the company trick

We're all jumping through

Bet you ain't had no food now

Since you las t went to sleep

The wild seed that has sowed

Will take forever to reap.

 

What days and nights though

Rocking out of ham yard

Oh skip that Fandango

Bring the blues back down hard

Though Chuck would never admit it

At the dor of the jail

There stood Guy Stevens

And he was waving the bail.

 

Guy you've finished the booze

And you run out of speed

But the wild side of life

Is the one that we need.

 

 

 

@SONG: THIS IS RADIO CLASH

 

Interrupting all programmes

 

This is Radio Clash from pirate satellite

Orbiting your living room, cashing in the Bill of Rights

Cuban army surplus or refusing all third lights

This is Radio Clash on pirate satellite

 

This sound does not subscribe to the international plan

In the psycho shadow of the white right hand

Them that see ghetology as an urban Viet Nam

Giving deadly exhibitions of murder by napalm

 

This is Radio Clash - tearing up the seven veils

This is Radio Clash - please save us, not the whales

This is Radio Clash - underneath a mushroom cloud

This is Radio Clash - you don't need that funeral shroud

 

Forces have been looting

My humanity

Curfews have been curbing

The end of liberty

 

Hands of law have sorted through

My identity

But now this sound is brave

And wants to be free - anyway to be free

 

This is Radio Clash on pirate satellite

This is not free Europe

Nor an armed force network

This is Radio Clash using audio ammunition

This is Radio Clash can we get that world to listen?

This is Radio Clash using aural ammunition

This is Radio Clash can we get that world to listen?

This is Radio Clash on pirate satellite

Orbiting your living room, cashing in the Bill of Rights

This is Radio Clash on pirate satellite

This is Radio Clash - everybody hold on tight

 

A-riggy diggy dig dang dang

 

Go back to urban 'Nam

 

 

 

@SONG: COOL CONFUSION

 

Between cool confusion

And Kung Fu in the car park

Could the weekend be losing

That reactive spark

 

Even in the Shebeen

Or down in the meat rack

Longtime I feel cold

To send Cinderella's shoe back

 

Along the length of the wire

Party jam on the line

I can't hear a thing

Can't get no number nine

 

Now we must get in touch

If the night is to burn

Someone out there in luck

Lend me your star for a turn

 

As heroes fix their hari

Some are saving their breath

Just on the walkways tonight

For a glue bag death

 

Screens flick in unison

Some gaze at the soul

From the tiers and the heights

Go for the fifteenth floor stroll

 

It' immediately obvious;

Anybody star-gilt

Would have left this club

Way before it was built

 

This strikes you so late

As the guy with the broom

Sweeps you and the bottles

Right out of the room

 

Now I wash in the factory

Confess in the tile house

I don't need to bleed anybody

To strike out

 

Today my Godfather

He sent a note from the jail

Said go get'em kid

But don't get chained to the rail

 

Between cool confusion

And Kung Fu in the car park

Could the weekend be losing

That romantic spark

 

Even in the Shebeen

Or down in the meat rack

Longtime I feel cold

To send Cinderella's shoe back

 

 

 

@SONG: RED ANGEL DRAGNET

 

I come from a long way away

I know a fine thing when I see it - see it

For the same reason no one ever pointed a telescope at the sun

Talking about the red angels of N.Y. City

 

Who shot the shot?

Who got shot tonight?

 

Not even five enforcement agencies can save their own

Never mind the people

Tonight it's raining on the angels of the city

Did anyone prophesize these people?

 

Only Travis

Come in Travis

 

All the animals come out at night. Queens, fairies, dopers,

Junkies. Sick, venal. Some day a real rain will come and

Wash all the scum off the streets.

Thank God for the rain to wash the trash off the sidewalk.

Listen, you screwheads! Here is a man who would not take

It anymore. A man who stood up against the scum, the

Filth. Now I see it clearly.

 

Personally, I know the alley

Where Jack feeds on the birds of night

Not even bobbies bicycling

Can stop the blood and feathers flying

 

Wearing overalls and for once and for all

What is the dream>

I'll tell it

To live like they do in the movies

San Juan, you listening?

yeah I bet you are

Hands up for Hollywood (hooray!)

I hear you

Snappy on the air

Hang in there

Wall to wall

You saved the world

What else?

You saved the girl

Champagne on ice

No stranger to Alcatraz to boot

Or strip it down

Chop it a little

Being reasonable

Just freedom to move

To live

For women to take a walk in the park at midnight

Hey, but this is serious

She can't even get back home

 

One of these, days I'm gonna get myself organizized

 

I come from a long way off

I know a lifegiver over a lifetaker

For the same reason no one ever pointed a gun at policeman

Talking about the red angles of New York City, yeah

 

 

 

@SONG: GHETTO DEFENDANT

 

Clash Lyrics / Allen Ginsberg Lyrics

 

/ Do the worm on the Accropolis

/ Slamdance the Cosmopolis

/ Enlighten the populace

 

Hungry darkness of living

Who will thirst in the pit? / Hooked in metropolis

She spent a lifetime deciding

How to run from it / addicts of metropolis

Once fate had a witness

And the years seemed like friends / girlfriends

Her babies can dream

But dreams begin like the end / shot into eternity

/ Methadone Kitty

/ Iron serenity

Ghetto defendant

It is heroin pity

Not tear gas nor baton charge

That stops you taking the city / strung out committee

 

Walled out of the city

Clubbed down from uptown

Sprayed pest from the nest

Run out to Barrio Town / the guards are itchy

Forced to watch at the feast

Then sweep up the night

Flipped pieces of coin / broken bottles

Exchanged for birthright / grafted in a jiffy

 

/ Strung out committee

/ Sitting pretty

/ Graphed in a jiffy

/ No pity, pretty

 

The ghetto prince of gutter poets

Was bounced out of the room / Jean Arthur Rimbaud

By the bodyguards of greed

For disturbing the tomb / 1873

His words like flamethrowers / Paris commune

Burnt the ghettos in their chests

His face was painted whiter

And he was laid to rest / died in Marseille

/ Buried in Charleville

/ Shut up

 

Soap floods oil in water

All churn in the wake

On the great ship of progress

The crew can't find the brake

Klaxons are blaring

The admiral snores command

Submarines boil in oceans

While the armies fight with suns

 

 

 

@SONG: ROCK THE CASBAH

 

Now the king told the boogie men

You have to let that raga drop

The oil down the desert way

Has been shaken to the top

The sheik he drove his cadillac

He went a-cruisin' down the ville

The muezzin was a-standing

On the radiator grille

 

The shariff don't like it rockin' the casbah rock the casbah

 

By order of the prophet

We ban that boogie sound

Degenerate the faithful

With that crazy casbah sound

But the Bedouin, they brought out the electric camel drum

The local guitar picker got his guitar picking thumb

As soon as the shariff had cleared the square

They began to wail

 

No over at the temple. Oh!

Oh they really pack 'em in

The in-crowd say it's cool

To dig this chanting thing

But as the wind changed direction

And the temple band took five

The crowd caught a whiff

Of that crazy casbah jive

 

The king called up his jet fighters

He said you better barn your pay

Drop your bombs between the minarets

Down the casbah way

As soon as the shariff was chauffeured outta there

The jet pilots tuned to the cockpit radio blare

As soon as the shariff was outta their hair

The jet pilots wailed

 

The shariff don't like it rockin' the casbah rock the casbah

 

He thinks it's not kosher

Fundamentally he can't take it

You know he really hates it

 

 

 

@SONG: SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO

 

Darling you gotta let me know

Should I stay or should I go?

If you say that you are mine

I'll be here 'til the end of time

So you got to let me know

Should I stay or should I go?

 

Always tease tease tease

Siempre - coqetiando y enganyando

You're happy when I'm on my knees

Me arrodilla y esta feliz

One day is fine, next day is black

Un dias bien el otro negro

So if you want me off your back

Al rededar en tu espalda

Well come on and let me know

Me tienes que desir

Should I stay or should I go?

Me debo ir o que darme

Should I stay or should I go now?

Should I stay or should I go now?

If I go there will be trouble

An' if I stay it will be double

So come on and let me know

 

This indecision's bugging me

Esta undecision me molesta

If you don't want me, set me free

Si no me quieres, librame

Exactly who'm I'm supposed to be

Diga me que tengo ser

Don't you know which clothes even fit me?

®Saves que robas me queurda?

Come on and let me know

Me tienes que desir

Should I cool it or should I blow?

®Me debo ir o quedarme?

 

Should I stay or should I go now? ®Yo me frio o lo sophlo?

If I go there will be trouble - si me voy - va ver peligro

And if I stay it will be double - si me quedo es doble

So you gotta let me know - me tienes que decir

Should I stay or should I go? ®Yo me frio o lo sophlo?

 

 

 

@SONG: STRAIGHT TO HELL

 

If you can play on the fiddle

How's about a british jig and reel?

Speaking king's English in quotation

As railhead towns feel the steel mills rust

Water froze

In the generation

Clear as winter ice

This is your paradise

 

There ain't no need for ya

Go straight to hell boys

 

Y'wanna join in a chorus

Of the Amerasian blues?

When it's Christmas out in Ho Chi Minh city

Kiddie say papa papa papa papa papa-san take me home

See me got photo photo photograph of you and mama mama

Mama-san

Of you and mama mama mama-san

Lemme tell ya 'bout your blood, bamboo kid

It ain't coca-cola, it's rice

 

Straight to hell

 

Oh papa-san

Please take me home

Oh papa-san

Everybody they wanna go home

So mama-san says

 

You wanna play mind-crazed banjo

On the druggy-drag ragtime U.S.A.?

In parkland international

Heh! Junkiedom U.S.A.

Where procaine proves the purest rock man groove

And rat poison, the volatile molotov says

 

Pssst...

Hey chico we got a message for ya...

Vamos vamos muchacho

From alphabet city all the way A to Z, dead, head

 

Go straight to hell

 

Can you cough up

Loud and strong

The immigrants

They wanna sing all night long

It could be anywhere

Most likely could be any frontier

Any hemisphere

No man's land

 

And there ain't no asylum here

King Solomon he never lived 'round here

Go straight to hell boys