Saturday 25 December 2010

You are the Key

Whoever you want to be
Whatever you want to see around you
It's all made in the crucible of you
In the eye of your eye where you reside

Wherever you want to go
Whenever you want to know something badly enough
Why ever do we cry?
It's all made of you
And it wants to come through
You are the Key

Authorities are slime when they tax upon your time
But something more sublime is hidden deep inside
And all the while you were waiting waiting waiting
Don't you wait any longer

It seems like a mystery
People always sufforing never free, from constraints around them
But your circumstance surrounds the basic fact
Of you yes you, you are the Key

So you started on
A road where you belong, truly
That may be short or long
But my friend you'll make it in the end and on the way you'll find

...that (repeat first 2 verses and finish)

Tuesday 21 December 2010

To what Primal Power

To what Primal Power do I owe my dues?
'Tis the Power of the mystic tri-Goddess so true
Of the Maiden Mother Crone modern times it little knows
Yet she was the original theme of poetry
Her troubadours opening for to see the Matrix
Not the celluloid one
That links us up where we come from
Kings and Queens and Bards in People
From the place where all is equal
And who though wars now rend us apart
Is still the lone subject of this art.
Bequeather of Kings behind all things
Enveloping all in her charms of ice and fire
Elusive ever present earth mother Gaia
Knower of men's minds
Bestower well inclined to nurture and to chide
Hear her call inside your ear
No fear is so opaque as to obcure her
There is no cure for her love
She will get you eventually
Though you may reject her
Have no names for her
Or only those to revile
She all the while
Made you from clay
Gave you life and days
Raised you
Played with you
With some horn-led consort tangled and met
Till this world was set
Now you can't forget
She spoke in the ear of those Dragon Kings of old
And so this story will unfold

Par la douceur

feuillent les bois et les oiseaux
chantent chacun dans son latin
suivant le vers d'un nouveau chant
il est donc juste que l'on se rejoussie
de ce dont on a le plus envie

De la-bas ou est toute ma joie
je ne vois venir ni messager ni kettre scellee
car je ne dors ni ne ris
et je n'ose m'avancer
jusqu'a ce que je connaisse bein la finalite
si elle est telle que je la desire

Ainsi va t-il de notre amour
comme de la branche d'aubepine
qui la nuit sur l'arbuste tremble
a la pluie et au gel
jusqu'a a ce que le lendmain le soleil se repande
dans les fueilles vertes sur le rameau

Il me souvient encore d'un matin
ou nous avons mis fin a la guerre
ou elle m'a accorde un don si grande
son amour charnel et son anneau
que Dieu me laisse encore vivre assez
pour que j'aie mes mains sous son manteau

Car je me soucie peu de l'etrange latin
qui pourtait m'eloigner de mon Bon Voisin
et je sais trop comment vont les paroles
qui eclosent avec(dans) un bref discours
il y en a qui se vantent d'amour
mais nous, nous avons la piece et le couteau

Guilhem de Peiteus 1071-1126
Grandfather to Eleanor of Aquitaine and
called the first known troubadour

Monday 20 December 2010

Newbury and Beyond

Solsbury Hill and Twyford Down
Eco war on sacred ground
It moved on to Newbury
Nine miles of road building insanity

No one can deny it
For it was on TV
Harness held or not
High up in a tree
Eco warriors out on a limb
While the corporation chainsaws made a din

Saying you must not cut down this glade
Make no tiny cut with your murdering blades
We will defend these trees
With our bodies and our minds held up high in the leaves
And tunneling down deep into the ground
Give your Sheriff's men the run-around
Security cordons plenty of police
Giving orders their consciences asleep

I know it is sad to say
But Camelot itself fell one day
Not before Albion's warriors
Made Newbury's Third Battle a legendary lay

TV put he pictures in front of people's eyes
Could we be becoming totally urbanised?
Lyminge Forest Sella open cast mine
Fairmile Trollheim and the Ladies Nine

Saying you shall not chop down these trees
We shall protect against your Mother murdering deeds
And the Third Battle of Newbury
Three minutes less for nine miles of ancient trees
One hundred thousand cherry pickers
Would not bring us down off our perch
'Cos news of all these road protests
Has been broadcast all around the cities and the towns

There is now a much greater neon orange glow
From Clairmont Road down to Ireland's County Wicklow
Thanks to types like the Dongas and the Flowerpots
Maybe the future can be green again
Canbury Garden Poplars Watley Quarry and Oxleas Wood
From Scotland down to Brighton there were people who were good
They came down to protest sites and did what they could

A nineteen screen multiplex cinema was a little bit too much
Crystal Palace was won by the people and the trees were never cut
It culminated an era just before the millenium
Even Ali G on the TV was at our eviction
All of this was back in the ninetees before the towers fell

Saying you shall not chop down these trees
We shall protect against your Mother murdering deeds
And the Third Battle of Newbury
Three minutes less for nine miles of ancient trees
One hundred thousand cherrypickers
Could not bring us down off our perch
'Cos news of all these road protests have been broadcast
All around let's hear it for a no pollution Newbury and Beyond

Sunday 19 December 2010

Twyford Down

We came from far
All round the globe
To Twyford Down
To stop a road
Through special site
Of ancient light
Winchester College
Sold off the rights

So was built a site
In path of the road
Where Dongas Tribe lived
In bent hazel domes
Going out on actions
Tarmac reaction
And for the contractors
It did their heads in

Ah ah ah
That was Twyford Down

It was a wet cold Yellow Wednesday
When luminous jackets made the first cutting
And there was pain and there was crying
People thought the earth was dying
Fourth day of July
Mass trespass day
Hundreds of people
All in the way
Or clambering up on the bailly bridge
Clanging it boldly with chaos sticks
Then there was digger diving
Which is conniving
To jump on the 'dozers
Till work was over
D-locked under the wheels
Of their earth-raping steel
To stop the contractors
There were many factors

Ah ah ah
That was Twyford Down

A Great Conjunction
Was in the sky
Woa but it wasn't
The reason why
It was the people
Who were outraged
At all the tricks
That had been played
To build the road
Against the will
Of common people
For money made
It was enough
Enough enough
But still the D.O.T.
Made the cut
And so began
This first eco-war
And after Twyford
There were many more
There were many more
There were many more

Ah ah ah
That was Twyford Down
Ah ah ah
That was Twyford Down
Ah ah ah
That was Twyford Down

Battered and Blue

Some give pleasure others pain
Most'll leave you some time in the rain
Some bring trouble some just annoy
Most give candy one or two bring joy

Now some take screwballs some drink wine
I smoke grass most of the time
Don't change the situation just turns it around
Like Jeckell and Hyde running all over town

Hey hey hey what can I say
I really do not feel so good today
Me oh my what can I do
I'm tattered and battered and blue for you

I knew a girl I met in a zoo
She played crazy golf in goodbye shoes
I knew a girl she was cool
Saw her last by the swimming pool

I won't tell you much just the basic facts
We built our house on a railroad track
When we heard the clicketty-clack
She ripped my shirt and didn't look back

Hey hey hey what can I say
I really do not feel so good today
Me oh my what can I do?
I'm tattered and battered and blue for you

Some give pleasure others pain
Most'll leave you some time in the rain
Some bring trouble some just annoy
Most bring candy one or two give joy

Hey hey hey what can I say
I'm gonna do my best to feel better today
Me oh my what can I do
I tattered and battered and blue for you

My body's aching and it ain't faking
When it finally buckled I didn't chuckle
In the final end there was just us friends
And a guy called Death who was playing requests

My oh my!

Hey hey hey whay can I say
I really gonna do my best to feel better today
Me oh my what can I do
I'm tattered and battered and blue for you
I'm tattered and battered and blue for you

Terror Machine

Woa terror machine
You know what I mean
Woa terror machine
Oh-a ya gonna know what I mean

It's the work of government administration
Let's just call it information sedation
Keep it all hid keeps on the lid
Of what is really going on

You heard the news about the terrorists
Though evidently no evidence fits
They got Arabic scapegoats as decoys
And they're treating them like shit

It's a bomb on the bus it's a man in the crowd
It ain't what it seems but don't talk too loud
The man on the TV is talking paranoid disease
Woa-a it's the Terror Machine

Terror - Realise
Terror - Open Eyes
Terror - Easily created
Terror - We're being manipulated

Woa Your gonna know what I mean
Woa Terror Machine
Woa Know what I mean

Two Towers standing now here comes the bit
Where they all fall down like a magic trick
At least that's how I look at it
It's all in the cover-up

7/7 if you want my opinion
Was all government bombs
Too much talk about climate change and Africa
Keep the talks going wrong
It wouldn't do to make poverty history
It would spoil the plan
Of world domination in the nuclear age
Keep it in the can

Terror terror everywhere and the real reason is clear
Make way for big brother keep up the war and fear

Terror...

Manufactured hate from newspapers
Through video games and TV
Try to keep us all dumbed down
Can your eyes but see?

It was A OK till the communists fell
With the enemy gone they needed someone to kill
To keep the arms trade in lollipops
They had to make up with something new

Terror machine is a genius plan
But they don't want you to know whose scheme
Terror machine is a see-thru scam
A front for the killing regimes

Mind control 24/7
Is telling lies outright
Media coverage to the masses
Is not going to talk out of line

Terror...

Behind the scene this killing machine
Is off doing it's work
Funded by tax and vacant minds
It's time to get alert

I'd like us all to realise
That a spanner in the works
Is a sure fire risk for the terror machine
Because it's made of a lie

Terror...

Want you to see through the terror machine
What really makes it tick
Don't be suprised if the global 8
Are in the midst of it

Violence

I'm trying to work it out where does violence come from
In the heat of the moment just what brings it on
There's violence in silence though you might think me wrong
Lights the blue touch paper for the fists and knives and guns

It's just below the surface but hidden well away
Disguised with greatest etiquette in the ways that we behave
Passed back and forth in lethal tennis games
Before the final act has blown the love away

This violence has run deep in history's angry seams
What violence is appropriate is what the lawcourts deem
Violence on the battlefield violence in the home
Violence nearly everywhere and just behind your nose

How one can regret but it's always too late
Whether it's to kill a man or just to smash a plate
In anger for something someone said or done
But who can look deep enough to ask where it comes from
Who can look deep enough to know where it comes from

Saturday 18 December 2010

I remember Blue

I remember Blue
He said "Good times bad times"
And the girl in the flamenco dress
Swayed to the rhythm of his guitar

I looked at the scene
Heard his words and his strum
Never saw him one time more
And the girl she was just a dream

Then I paced down the street
Where I saw a man he was beat
Slumped into a shop doorway
Head between his knees

I guess he was gouched out
Could be heroin or crack cocaine
And I numbly wondered
What happened to my dream?

Didn't have no money and couldn't even speak
I reviewed my own life of the street
So I reached as far as I could reach
Into my heart for I accept no defeat

And I perceived a vast desert of soul-
Stranded survivors of a world gone wrong
And a flaming mouth that incinerated dreams
But yet one dream it burned through the flames
Of the flamenco girl who threw off her chains

She danced herself into a whirling peak
Said no words but smiled to me
And I sanctified gratified passed on the smile
Into the dawning street

It smashed into a car windscreen
Got lost in the wind
Echoed against the building blocks
Got half drowned in the rain
It caught a man in turpitude
And drove another sane
Got jammed inside a mortal coil
Of disempowered dreams
It rattled through my mandolin
And dislocated brains
It grated through the visors
Of the Motor City men
It caught all in a tornado
That blotted out the sun
Of which dust that followed smarted eyes
Of all the fallen ones
And through this cloud a man appeared
And he began to wave
I knew that we had understood
And so this vision fades





























And I percieved a vast desert of soul stranded

My Elusive Muse

I saw you once upon a normal street
I looked all upon you from your hair down to your feet
You smiled and disappeared and left me with the blues
But you had entered into me and left a mystic clue

Ah my elusive muse

What was it behind the city's cracks and lies
What behind hidden scars and in distant eyes
And everywhere I looked all with my seeking shoes
You were peeping through the gaps my elusive muse

Ah my elusive muse

You formed into the rounded hills such it was your grace
I looked into the moon and reflected was your face
I looked into the gutter thought that I might loose you
So I cried a silver tear my elusive muse

Ah my elusive muse

Inspiration from the well of passion's holy flame
Golden arrows to my heart when I hear your name
Six white horses carry you in a chariot so true
Seven songs of everywhere are the ones you use
To keep in time the fearless rhyme
My elusive muse

Ah my elusive muse

We chained you restrained you built worlds modern and new
But these are all missing love they are the work of fools
And to all insensed profiteers who at your brown skin grasp
Taking gold and minerals well none of this can last
For it threatens all the life on earth in the seas and skies of blue
How we do depend on you my elusive muse
There never can be an end to you my elusive muse

So if it is we shall meet and men will truly see
The majesty of life within your earth and heaven tree
And if we touch this holy bough feel it's pulse and fuse
We touch all infinity my elusive muse

Ah my elusive muse

King

Why have a King at all?
Are not such people bound to fall
Oppressing people owning land
Common people understand

Who controls the city gates
Holding council decides fates
How to use this mighty hand
Is what a King must comprehend

This is what befits a King
He brings the ancient wisdom in
Support the people not exploit
Do these things is what he ought

And if to evil he is lured
What oh what could be the cure
A queen's wisdom is what endures
So peace on earth can be secured

Chorus

Dissolved into the land is He
Common people are the key
All proportions of a web
Of life and land and deeds and trials

A King to do and Bard to tell
So listen well this merry while
Here's to all our Kings within
Blessed Albion do they bring

Chorus:
Out with the old in with the new
Spirit of a peace which will come true
In with the old out with the new
Once and future does this please you?
Albion rare and dignified
Return this golden sunrise

Key to the Gates

One for the stones that are old
Roll roll roll

Two for the alchemical gold
Roll roll roll

Three for the freedom of the soul
Roll roll roll

Who holds the key to the gates?
Who learns that knowledge waits?
Who holds the balance of the fates?

Four for the key to hidden doors
Roll roll roll

Five for the song that endeth wars
Roll roll roll

Six for the child that asketh more
Roll roll roll

Know that the gates are open wide
Spirit mother you are so wise
For three is the number of the child

Seven for the strength to move through fears
Roll roll roll

Eight for the turning of the years
Roll roll roll

Nine it is the spirit of good cheer
Roll roll roll

Musician herald bard held in reknown
With your three several wreathes you be crowned
Wielding your harps of mystical sounds for us

One for the stones that are old
Two for the alchemical gold
Three for the freedom of the soul
Four for the key to hidden doors
Five for the song that endeth wars
Six for the child that asketh more
Seven for the strength to move through fears
Eight for the turning of the years
Nine it is the spirit of good cheer

Roll roll roll
Roll roll roll
Roll it around-O






























1

Friday 17 December 2010

Dragonseeker

I was a seeker for sacred grail rhymes
In this land of uncertain times
I saught for the Dragon I had heard exists
That could teach us something we'd missed

I went to the country where warriors bold
Guard such treasures that are beyond gold
But to my surprise as their wise one beckoned me
They were Gnomes, but two foot high by our reckoning

Chorus

The Gnome Druid said I must to Annwn go
That's the underworld in case you didn't know
So I set sail with some crew in a ship
Only seven returned that old holy grail gave me the slip

I was plunged into fevers of hot and cold
Saw hallucinations of things never told
Saw a tunnel of madness where in black voids I'd fall
And by these measures I knew it was my call

Chorus

I came to a crossroads and Dragons saw none
And fell to my knees for the bad I had done
The sky rained down doom radiation of fear
I saw death motor pterodactyls flying very near

My prayer reached down to the core of the ground
My mind became it's own holy ground
It was then that I heard that wing beating sound
And there flying high the Dragons I'd found

Chorus

So I went to the East where the Dragons are blue
And electrical breath they breathe it is true
Through the shattered and scarred lands the wastelands we've made
A Dragon breathed and it showed me the way

He took me way high above the city's maze
Where smoke phantoms of toxic haze
Hazard the day and dumb down the night
Pollute the mind and corrode the sight

Chorus

The Dragon pointed with his gleaming claw
And I caught a sight that holds me forever in awe
The broken city it's energy transformed
And there beneath it the Grail's holy form

The Gnomes were working there with their tools and their skills
As they work ever the whole world to fill
With the wonder of real magic of story and truth
Of this here tale I can offer no proof

Chorus:

And I said
"Where do the Dragons come from?"
And they said
"Here in the Land of all Song"
And I said
"What if it all goes wrong?"
And they said
"Just hold on to one, you'll be carried
Just hold onto one, you'll be carried.
Just hold onto one, you'll be carried along
To the Land of all Song
To the Land of all Song
This is the Land of all Song
This is the Land of all Song"

Majestical and mystical a creature supra-physical
People power potent alchemy
Come together and be

(repeat as a looped phrase)

Who am I?

I am the night within the sun
I am the fear in everyone

I am the failure I am mistake
I am the Kingdom that once was great

I am the terror that stirs behind thought
I am the eagle that never was caught

I am the needle I am the thread
I am the life that once was dead

I am the waveform I am the drop
I am that which cannot be got

I am release and I am constraint
I am the smile that is a complaint

I am justice I am the Law
I am that which we have come here for

I am the vision that is of the blind
I am that which you never can find

I am the father within the son
I am the race that is never won

I am decay but never remorse
I am that which has finished it's course

Who am I?
Who am I?
Who am I?
I am who

I'll meet you there

I can see the sun a shining upon a freedom place
-I will meet you there
I can see that sun a shining all upon your saddened face
-I will meet you there
-I'll meet you there, I'll meet you there
-I will meet you there

Can you feel that wind a blowing us all on the long way home
Did you walk along that path that only souls have known

There is to the countryside that we are standing on
There is to the war that never has begun

As I live this life I will do the best I can
My only desire is that it fits the bigger plan

And when the spirit moves there is nothing can't be done
For when we move as one our battles all are won

And when they lower me I'll be no longer here
For I'll be pushing daisies in the land beyond all fear

And when I do return it will be a brighter day
In case you are concerned it still rains each other day

You don't know who I am

If you see me strumming and look the other way
If you think I'm bumming, just caught up in the sway
If you think that I think that someone else should pay
Then you don't know who I am

If you have the idea that status maketh man
As I have no status this I cannot countermand
But if you think that status is what I understand
You don't know who I am

If you think I want to rebel yell and tear down all the walls
Well I think that is incredible please do tell me more
But if you think society don't have no cracks or flaws
Then you don't know who I am

If you think my head is full of unrealistic ideals
And you'd laugh at me if I said that we could make 'em real
If you feel that bitterness is all there is to feel
Then you don't know who I am

If you think that progress is going very far
If you think that I think we could get there in a car
If you think that my song has really got no heart
Then you don't know who I am

If you can see a paradise between the paving slabs
If you can see a common touch between whites and Arabs
If you cannot see these things the whole world could collapse
And you don't know who I am

If you think I'm someone else that you knew before
Well I might seem like them but that's what I deplore
Just look a little deeper before you shut the door
'Cos you won't know who I am

Saturday 30 October 2010

Oh my Daddy-O

When I was one
You took me on my knee
You meant everything to me
You were my Daddy

But then you left
It made me so very upset

I didn't know why you had gone
I didn't know where you were
I thought it was my fault

Oh my Daddy
My Daddy-O
Oh my Daddy
Where did you go?

Nine years gone by
Since our last goodbye
I saw you again
Oh boy had you changed

You were drunk
You said I smelled like a skunk

You chemicalled my hair
You treated me unfair
You put my mum and her boyfriend down
Is this really my fault?

Oh my Daddy
My Daddy-O
Oh my Daddy
Where did you go?

Thinking of you
All my feelings come through
I cry a tear or two times two
Times two times two is thirty two

Never again
I want to hear your name

It brings me so much pain
It's too much to take
Your freaking my mind
I remember you
When you used to be kind

Oh my Daddy
My Daddy-O
Oh my Daddy
Where did you go?

Oh my Daddy
My Daddy-O
Oh my Daddy
I love you so.

Codex Blues

Here he comes and he's dressed so clean
Making the cruelest deal there's ever been
Don't give me them Codex Blues

They take a plant to make the chemical stuff
But they just can't get enough
Hey hey, it's the Codex Blues

Pharmaceuticals
Can be a cure for you
Most or some of the time
Modern medicene
Should not be menacing
Don't make Grandma's remedies a crime!

Legislation, this is the scare
Making plants illicit everywhere
Oh no, it's the Copex Blues

Hey Mr Beecham, Mr Kline
For dealing drugs you should be doing time
Don't give me no Codex Blues



To the perky plucking of a 'Cocaine Blues'
or 'Staggerlee'

Monday 27 September 2010

The Mariners Three

There were Mariners three on the silver sea
On the sea were Mariners three

And one was Greed and one One was Hate
And the other was Destiny oh yes
The other was Destiny

There were Mariners three on the silver sea
On the sea were Mariners Three

And one was Greed and one was Hate
And the other was Destiny

Tell me now my blue eyed son
Why do Mariners sail?
Oh there are two journeys that you take
And one of them is inside you, oh yes
The greatest one is inside you


The ship is all that Life entails
And Death the sea it sails

And Greed and Hate had been fighting of late
And a storm brewed in the air oh yes
A storm brewed in the air

The ship is all that Life entails
And Death the sea it sails

And Greed and Hate had been fighting of late
And a storm brewed in the air

Tell me now my blue eyed son
Why do you Mariners sail?
Oh there are two journeys that you take
And one of them is inside you, oh yes
The greatest one is inside you


Now Destiny says "Listen boys,
Can you hear that thunder sound"

But Greed and Hate preferred to fight
And so they nearly drowned oh yes
So they nearly drowned

Now Destiny says "Listen boys
Can you hear that thunder sound

But Greed and Hate preferred to fight
And so they nearly drowned

Tell me my blue eyed son
Why do Mariners sail?
Oh there are two journeys you can take
And one of them is inside you
The greatest one is inside you


The ship went down with a gurgling sound
Struck by a lightning bolt

And the fueding two had to cling to a raft
All in the sea so cold oh yes
All in the sea so cold

The ship went down with a gurgling sound
Struck by a lightening bolt

And the fueding two had to cling to a raft
All in the sea so cold

Tell me now my blue eyed son
Why do Mariners sail?
Oh there are two journeys you can take
The greatest one is inside you

Tuesday 14 September 2010

Mutiny; Etaples 1917.

The untold Ballade of Percy Toplis

It was at Etaples in Nineteen Seventeen
At the Bullring Base Camp where training was extreem
Behind the Western Front oh boys it was not fun
Yet here it was the British Army‘s mutiny began

The official records do not tell the tale
Yet for those concerned their memories did not fail to
Remember Percy Toplis the outlaw in disguise
Who lead the men in mutiny and broke Brittania‘s pride

Several thousand soldiers all absent without leave
And driven to a hatred by what they had received
From Redcaps and Canaries and Military Police
Who‘d made their lives a misery, yet got their relief

Watch out for the Master of Disguise

You risked a court marshall and firing squad at dawn
For desertion, cowardice or staying home too long
But mutiny was the card that Private Toplis played
And mutiny was had and might just have saved the day

Posing as an officer was something he did well
Though from a colliery town you would never tell
He took on High Command and gave them merry hell
And without any compromise he bent them to his will

Lions led by donkeys had been said of the British
Fighting wars colonial a picture that fitted
Commandante Brigadier General Andrew Graham Thompson
Whose Nemesis was Toplis and so that General failed

Lets hear it for the Master of Disguise

A tiny hump in Flanders known as Passchendaele Ridge
Was where the British Captains planned their next offensive
But from there the Germans proved impossible to wrest
And in the mud one quarter million met their deaths

Storms had blown away all British Hospital tents
When Germans dropped seven bombs which killed some U.S. heads
America went crazy but Britons were dismayed
For they had been dying there for years and never fuss was made

Morale was very low but one thing made it snap
When at the Base Camp a lad talked to a lass
His tunic was unbuttoned, this was improper dress
A Military Policeman shot the soldier dead

So a murder sparked this whole skaboosh

The lad had been a Scotsman, the lass from Aberdeen
This set the Gordon Highlanders up a head of steam
A piper blasted out their Regimental Tune
And to the Bridge the raving rebels moved

Second Lieutenant James Davies Royal Fusiliers
Faced them off under orders and heard their riotous jeers
But many of those behind him were friends of the mutineers
The piper reached his step and made intentions clear

"We got nothing against ye Sir, but I must ask ye tae step aside
But we ll turn the machine guns against ye if you dont comply"
So Davies wisely stepped aside and so was took the bridge
Other officers followed suite, no resistance did they give

So mutineers swept up others like the tide

"Down with the Redcaps! Release the prisoners!"
Shouted a Canadian, echoed by his men
Orders came to fire but obey they would not do
So officers held Three Arch Bridge and fist fights ensued

Advantage was to the officers, two soldiers thrown on the track
That took soldiers daily to the Front Line and back
But this did not last for long, advantage it turned round
And fifteen hundred mutineers roared into town

Cafes were smashed into, beer and wine rolled to the streets
Soldiers were hunting down terrified Military Police
And those hated Redcaps and Canaries, trainers at the Bull Ring
Hid in peoples houses but still got their heads kicked in.

Mutineers had crashed the town and left police for dead

The centre of Etaples soon became a wreck
With a bonfire of the barrels, soldiers out of check
For New Zealanders, Australians, Scotsmen, Irish, Welsh and English
It must have been a bloody Sunday very much relished

However the report that General Thompson made
Mentions some stones being thrown but little gives away
For soldiers from all round the world who stayed at that Hell Camp
The time had come right there and then to have some of their own back

One hundred mutineers crashed an officers meeting
To give them their ultimatum or else get burned that evening
Thompson and twelve others were stuffed into a truck
And pitched into the river, told to go to ....

From that point mutiny spread like a wild fire

Bolsheviks in Russia, failed mutiny in France,
Deserters in Camiers chalk pits, the Somme and other parts
All now fanned the fires of an insurrections blaze
And so it was the rioting lasted for five days

Not all the actions of the mutineers were on course
Such as gang-raping the women of the WAAC Corps
So a special guard was set up to sentinel their quarters
And a father harpooned a soldier raping his daughter

Many mutineers linked up with the deserters
Living in the woods of nearby Paris Plage
Percy Toplis too had gravitated down there
Where they called him "The General" and so they all fell to

Toplis said get the police not the girls and was obeyed

The second day of mutiny saw Toplis and One Hundred
Marching to Etaples in the late afternoon
Where they met with Thompson touring in his staff car
Trying to get order and pretty desparate too

His vehicle was rocked till Toplis held up his hand
Then the Commandante begged that he stop the riot
Up on the cars running boards Toplis gave conditions
For which General Thompson would soon come to give permission

The Revolt would end when Etaples was thrown open,
Military Police removed, the Bull Ring closed down,
Food and the conditions had to be much better
He stepped down from the running boards and let Thompson go

'Private' Toplis had dressed for the occasion

All the conditions that Toplis made were met
The Bull Ring was closed down and men got better pay
General Graham Thompson was taken out of office
In his place came Field Commander General Haig

Of course this did not stop the War that took some more time
But by all reports soldiers preferred the Front Line
With incompetent leaders that mendacity endorsed
Sure the course of history could have been much worse

Francis Percy Toplis melted into the scenery
Continuing his sublime line in confidence trickery
He was caught one time and put inside a prison
But he easily escaped through a hole he had been digging

Percy Toplis the master of Disguise

After escapades of much audacious skill
The force of High Command moved in for the kill
With his wanted poster everywhere and being framed for murder
The papers had the best fugitive story ever to occur

He was ambushed and shot by a church in Cumbria
But on what authority was never made too clear
His post humus trial passed over much felt not fit or right
And a thorough enquiry did not greet the light

And so I ask you as a jury of your time
Who was it here did the most heinous crime?
Toplis : 23, a racketeer, mutineer, piano player and conman
Or officers who killed by proxy millions in these lands?

(no chorus, just guitar chords)

I say lets hear it for the monacled mutineer
An accessory he wore as a badge of his career
A Master of Disguise so complete as to fool them all
A disguise that he used so well to fool the makers of that war

Percy Toplis Master of Disguise
Percy Toplis Master of Disguise

Sunday 5 September 2010

Saturday 4 September 2010

Sunday 15 August 2010

Rose on Lewis Road

How did you grow there
Rose on Lewis Road
Who knows
How come you showed up here
Did you know I was feeling low
Walking home
Alone

When I saw you peeping, creeping, sneaking
Through the fence
My heart filled with a little rapture at your
Delicate scent

See what youve done here
Rose on Lewis Road
You glow
Why did you come here
With the traffics oh so heavy load
Its grim
But you win

I can hardly stand it some days
Combustion smog it degrades the air
And we take it to be
As normal reality
You cant help but breathe it in
Breathe it in breathe it in

Does anyone notice
A Rose on Lewis Road
Who drove on by
Do you want a garden
Instead of another supermarket
On Lewis Road
Who cares

When I think of the whole wide world
Where pollution has it in hold
In a grip
And I wanna get off
And I wanna get out
And I want to breathe some air

And I know there has to be some hope out there

How did you grow there
Rose on Lewis Road
You know
How come you showed up here
Did you know I was feeling low
walking home
Alone

Thursday 12 August 2010




























Friday 9 July 2010

No Sense of Remorse

Of fear and war the twisted truth is money made from arms
By companies who surely know their products will be harm
The buisness is an old one, their premises are clean
It all goes on with no sense of remorse

A cancer of components is part made within the gates
Where precision engineers made triggers to rain hate
On enemies around the World, whoever they may be
Their fate is sealed with no sense of remorse

Of national security the manager calmly spoke
Had making deals with Israel made him a poker face bloke?
But security for England has mutilated Iraq
And his money has no sense of remorse

A surrounding fence was placed when people did proclaim
Get out of our fair city now, get out you work for shame
With their racket of saucepan lids 'gainst the horror of all bombs
But work goes on without a sense of remorse

The servile soldiers are equipped with weapons and then trained
In warfare for a father-land and never to complain
But if there were no weapons made then there would be no war
And there would be no feelings of remorse

One factory is only small compared to the arms trade
The nessicery componants however there are made
Is this what we pay our taxes for, why must it be this way?
And Death drives out with no sense of remorse

The questions they all run so deep if you go and question war
The language speaks about defence, attack is what it's for
And causes made to kill others will one day return home
And families may feel a sense of remorse

I asked what would employers do with their considerable skills
If they had another job than making tools to kill
It seems they are happy in their work, must be eager for more war
War pays their wage with no sense of remorse

B52's and cluster bombs are well know in the trade
Obliterating innocents is where it chiefly pays
Do we subscribe to legal murder or say we shall have no more
Or do we also have no sense of remorse?

Wednesday 28 April 2010

Sweet Lady of May (1986)

Love oh ma Lady she comes to me, comes to me in the morning time
Bringing a love and a light so clear, bringing things that we hold dear
Dancing like a spirit now, she dance to woo the stars to sleep
Dance with her when I can, jump for joy over the land
Come walk with me my Lady, under the moon so bright
Come lay down with me my Lady, make love all through the night

I love you Lady of May, when you're not here my world is grey
When y die I'll go dancing on till we meet again at Judgement Day
When we're alive we'll walk the night, walk the day right out of sight
Wild at night and out of harm, we'll go down without a fight
And should we ever disagree, as I am sure we will
Find the root of our dis-ease, dig it out and dance on still

A love of life I have for you, do you even know who you are
Beckon to me when I was young, called me on from afar
Sing and make music fair, harmonise with loving care
Love will in the end work out, love is always in the air, in the air
So let us dance to the morning, let us dance to the night
Let us promise of this; love the world and serve it right
Love the world and serve it right

Goodbye to You (1985 or 6)

Well I think I'll be leaving come tomorrow
After this good time spent with you
And the lines just stick in your throat and ache
Seems like you're not getting through
A sorrow's only yesterday's belated smile
I catch hold of new airs, drifting on this while
Drifting on

You lady, in the red falling gown
Your hands clutch the rose tight
As your eyes look to the ground
Remember what is said and done
Think of what's to come
We are only images, flickering in the sun
Wo, in the sun

Lain in bed, we'd lain all night now the dawn chirps it's wake
Speaking of our dancing love and of mistakes we'd made
Rising we wipe the eyes and look to the door
Rolling on the clouds go by, who needs anymore
Oh, anymore

Through the glass I gaze to see the people going by
How many stories in the street, how many asking 'why?'
Why did she leave me, did she go away
Look to the ground, feel it spoil your day
(Don't let it spoil your day)

The taxi's come, it is the hour, when we shall go our ways
I feel as if i ought to have something to say
But profundity just slips and passes on it's way
Our hands, touching at fingertips are now streets away
And we've parted

Goodbye to You


(This song I wrote but it didn't happen to me. Bits of it I did experience in ways, which got cobbled in to the story)

Planet Waves ...presently fragmented...(1985, surely, seeing last verse, sometime shortly after the Beanfield)

All of us gathered here again
And slowly making it forward
We're beginning to share again
The peace that is meant for us
There's no way around it this time
For the stars are set in the sky
And time in it's steady march forward
Has not forgotten where we lie

The ways we meet are very strange
.............................................................
Put it back together and see the plan that is
It all fits into place........................?
We're all part of a cosmic trick
.........................................................
Awakening up and down the land
Something's pulling us together

'You and I' is a mystery
Impossible to solve
We are the same and not the same
...................................... together
The pull of this thing is so sublime
.................................................trees
Like the birds that fly so high
Our souls will soar on the breeze

Apocalypse Sunshine music
Is what we all play
Reaching people in dark place
Living in fear today
Maybe we understand
Don't .........................................
Keep the smile on cheeks young and old
That watches all our lives

chorus:
And don't you just know
And don't you just know
And don't you just know
And don't you just know?
What is your feeling
Planet Waves
Apocalypso Rhythm
Sunshine brightly music
Keep on moving with it
Keep on moving with it

Up and down this country
People like you and me
Come together in places old
Where you can feel the energy
And maybe some are against us
And keep us from our own
This surely is just the turn of tide
Stranger things have been known

Timechild's Goldmine (1985)

When we were young we were shining gold
Ribbons of life, tattered and waiting for the morning to come
You were like the dawn falling on swift wings bearing sunlight
For us all

Did you realise the thousand eyes, watching you lovingly
Watching you patiently
Did you once look from behind those eyes
See the thousand lives that we're living

Passed around the turning wheel
Swept up and waiting, bashed and buffetted, because we made it so
And you stood by us unseeing, hearing
All our jealous minds, once shining chose to spill

Beside us in your crystal mind
Our thoughts are always your concern
We are blindly stumbling
But the Timechild's Goldmine still sees us in it's eye

Timechild! Seasons wild!
Timechild! New Land!
Love is coming!

Monday 26 April 2010

The Last day of May (April 1984)

I was dreaming this night of mine, I dreampt a dream all out of time
About a maiden at a fayre, about some flowers that grew in her hair

This dream was so strange so full of memories, of recalling past times when fancy free
We skipped over the grass and down to the sea with the birds who had alighted
In the fields at the time

When I awoke I felt so strange, so mighty queer, that there I lay
In bed for a while and studied the world out the window

Stunned as I was at the start of a new day, awakened from dreams that quickly decayed
And left me a feeling of a time and a place far removed from here

It was this day I do recall that folks were to gather around the hall
Singing praises to unite them all and spend the day in festive array
And celebrate, dance and music play till the night came around

And so it was that afternoon, you could just see the crescent moon
It was the last day before June, people had gathered by the church
At the cross where you can see down to the sea

On the Last Day of May
On the Last Day of May
We are just here I can't tell you why my friend
But I know it's for some reason
Some reason to be told

Practising his pipes stood by the door, the curious minstrel held me in awe
The way that he looked, the way that I saw
The way that he looked at me was not at all threatening

He took off his cloak and showed me inside, as I went further in the old minstrel cried
Making noises to me- wait behind that tree till the thunder loudly goes by

Soon after that I saw the church cat, purring and preening, licking and cleaning
Itself behind the vast rows of flowers that were to be put in the nave

What a great tortoise shell, that much I could tell, but before too long
I could hear the bell, the bell, the knell, all things are now well
It's two a clock, the fayre is just starting

Cartloads and carloads of folks pouring in I spied from my hide-out behind the inn
There were people were fat there were people were thin, people with double or triple chins
People with cameras around their necks, people carrying lengths of flex
People rushing to buy things

Oh the Last Day of May...

The vicar and the lady from the Donkey Sanctuary
Stood outside the teashop watching thoughtfully
He was wishing there had been more crysanthemums
She was nursing a bleeding cut on her thumb
"We can organise it better this year"
Was the first thing he had said
At the Salcombe Regis Fayre AGM
Back in early Feb'
"We ought to have some donkey rides
More things for the kids
A herb stall, a rat-catcher
Something like Beer town did"

There was an organ which exuded a tune wound up and not played by a long bearded loon
Who persuaded everyone to come around and around, shouting, arms waving, beads touching the ground
In time to the music

There was a wry looking man at a coconut shy his face was contorted, I didn't know why
But he was staring at a boy in his teens wiping ice-cream off his new Levi jeans
Licking what was left off his fingers

Practising flipping coins around his hat, a proud looking young man made a stand
Accused of stealing a cake from a stall, of tearing up flowers and that was not all
His mother accused him of smoking

Looking alone but still very pretty, wanders the girl who had been sitting
By the church, then by the sign, in fact all places about the town
Looking from behind here tinted glasses
Thinking was it true what her sister says about that boy

Then I kissed you down on the grass verge and reality took a lurch
The mist that had been lingering around suddenly got thicker and close to the ground
You could not see, only sound carried meaning

The whole country fayre just suddenly stopped, how had this mist so suddenly dropped?
What arm is it that has chosen to bat this ball into such a strange court?

People did not know what to do, whether to stay or whether to go
Whether they were even in town today and so, indecisive, the minutes ticked by
Not even one sound not even a cry was heard from anyone

It was then I saw the strangest sight, it really gave me quite a fright
Until I saw, in front of them all, strode the minstrel with his pipes

Out of the far past came twenty men, Celtic by nature I guessed at their kin
By the shade of their eye by the tone of their skin
On this odd stage they just wandered in and looked at everyone through the mist

Aw, not so by chance by by mystic device, I was held like wood in a vice
I would have spoke but the words but words would not come
Until this strange apparition had been and done
What it was here for

The minstrel was alone, his boots and his bones eyeing all the folks there to see
He took out his pipe and played a note of some height
And like a crack returns normality

Alright alright I know it's weird but I can handle this
What you continued with your piping I started with a kiss
"Look down at your neck, see what is there"
Was what the minstrel said. And looking down I saw I wore
A strange celtic cross that I had not seen before

On the Last day of May...

If you should go down to Salcombe Regis Fayre beware, beware. Be aware
There's dreams and things floating in the air, and I don't know if you'd really care
For it at all, for it at all, for it had all ended soon

Oh the Last day of May
Oh the Last day of May
We are just here, I can't tell you why my friends
But I know it's for some reason
Some reason to be told

Sunday 25 April 2010

The Tinker's Prayer (1985)

Sweet woman light, won't you come on down
Over the fields into the ground
See you carrying chill'n in your arms
Sheaves of wheat keep us from harm
Sweet mama come on to me, there's coal in the house, it's plain to see
Who you was a thinking whose it to be?
When was the time that you gave it all to me?
You may remember me, I do you
Popped from behind a stone a while back
Something tells me you've not changed at all
Something tells me we've both changed worlds
The colour of your skin, the shade of your eye
The way you tipped your hat
Nothing at all and everything
That's what it's all about
That's what it's all about

Palm to palm sat at this sunrise again
On my knees brow a sweating rain
Mercy mercy these folks all around
They don't see a Tinker thinker they see a clown
Come on down to me again
Like when I was a child I knew it then
Didn't know where I'd be
But I hoped it wouldn't be here
Pick up on the pace a bit
Got to get myself together
Lost in this sea of days
It's like swimming in lather
You don't know this agony
Like I don't know your pain
We can't use a family ticket
If we catch different trains
And I'm thinking in this place of mine
About what I've seen and done
Faces in wilderness places
Where once I saw it all began
Where once I saw it all began

Where do I stand where do I go now?
Up the road or sat where I am
Only place seems I can look for help
Is inside this head of lunatic selves
Still I'm thinking "Where are you?"
You don't know what I need but I'm sure you do
Here's for a poor suffering clown
Don't mope around, fuck right out of town
Loading up my cart of mirrors
Pots and pans, violas, zithers
Look inside, see yourself a thousand-fold
Before when our world was at war
With it's own
With it's own
With it's own fingers
Tinker's Prayer went up like a light
Gave the God's quite a fright
Tinker's Prayer went up like a light
Gave the Gods quite a fright
Gave the Gods quite a fright

Bartley Sunrise (1985)

The Stones at Bartley Sunrise are bathed in a yellow golden light
And all around the river reflects the scene that's all about
Rustling sounds and holes in banks, sudden small bright eyes
Blinking to scurry back inside
A heron slowly rises here
Flapping through the mist
As the morning light grows stronger
A starving thrush pokes it's beak into
The soft and waiting ground
And pulls out a worm

Grey and tall he stands partly obscured
By the dark line of the trees
It is he who tends the glades
Watches the trees, or dances in the breeze
He who does the work he does
And sleeps hidden in the leaves
Or chases maidens about
He clasps hold of the branch above his
Curly head of tousled mane
Swings himself above
Silently we turn away, not even knowing where to go
Is this any way to treat a friend?

The old church by the river catches fire-diamonds of early morning light
It sparkles on the weather vane and on the windows, it casts away the night
And in the day the boys will come to throw stones at the water
Or lie in the sweet smelling grass
This fine day we woke up early
Come to see the rising sun
Come to see the faerie dawn chorus
We came across the fields to stand here
See our footprints mark the way

A cat he stretches lazily on the grave of old Simon John
Uncurls a claw, some memory of his chasing dreams still curling in his eyes
Something is amiss, the cat's world does not correspond, "but do not worry"
Says the voice above.
"You and I are just like a hand in a glove, we are one another"
"What a weird night this has been" thinks the cat in his cat's mind
Quickly the subject is changed
"Must find some fish to eat,
Maybe a shrew will do.
Think I'll go look down that lane"

Friday 23 April 2010

Spacegoats at Kentish Town Rainbow Centre late '93 or early'94.

Map of Larinia (Elven) or Eren (Dwarfish)



To see the full-size map go to www.cliffsmith.co.uk/pokmap.jpg.

Monday 19 April 2010

Christian Crusaders

Come ye all, come on Crusade
The Infidel has broken through
These were words of Church and State.
God Wills it
God Will's it my Son
God Wills it
Come ye all come on Crusade
God Wills it

That Saracen, that swarthy man
He has done the very worst he can
And stolen Jerusalem
For their other God
For their other God no less
For their other God
They've stolen Jerusalem
For their other God

Our God is a vengeful one
Pope made a dispensation
Penitential Warfare
Will now get you to Heaven
Will now get you to Heaven
Will get you to Heaven
Penitential Warfare
Will now get you to Heaven

No more prayer for Salvation
All you have to do is kill
Kill the sinful Infidel
And your soul is saved
And your soul is saved my son
And your soul is saved
Kill the sinful Infidel
And your soul is saved

Leave your work and families
Come and join in Righteous Might
Christian Crusaders
Marching on to War
Marching on to War my lads
Marching on to War
Christian Crusaders
Marching on to War

So they came in thousands
And made for the Levantine
Across land and sea they went
And over mountains tall
Across the land and sea they went
Over the mountains tall
Across the land and sea they went
And over the mountains tall

But things didn't go quite as they wished
The Holy Land was not given to them on a dish
With ups and downs and some new Crowns,
Crusader States, their fall of late
Saladin and those like him
They'd never seen such sophisticated soldiers like these
Who crucially were on their own territory
The stakes were up the chips were down
Slowly over two hundred years and more
The Christian was beaten out of Town


Could we draw comparisons
With modern day Afghanistans
At very least regarding
War in their sandy lands?
War in their sandy lands you say?
War in their sandy lands
At very least regarding
War in their sandy lands

Oh how can these wars be won
They run rings round everyone
It's our overstepping greed
I think we should go home
I think we should go home you know
I think we should go home
It's our overstepping greed
I think we should go home

Back then in the first Crusades
What was it most progress made?
Frederick of Germany
Three nations made for free
Three nations made for free
Three nations made for free
For ten years our German Fred
Three nations made for free

He was more the diplomat
In Palestine he drew no sword
Bethlehem and Nazareth
Jerusalem got with words
Jerusalem he got with words
Jerusalem with words
Bethlehem and Nazareth
Jerusalem got with words

There had been more friendly times
Muslim/Christian balance fine
Tolerance on either side
But all of that it changed
All of that it changed for worse
All of that it changed
Tolerance on either side
But all of that it changed

The Templars took the knowledge down
Troubadours their Father found
What is ringing in this sound
That resonates today?
That resonates today
That resonates today
What is ringing in this sound
That resonates today?

Eleanor of Aquitaine was said to have canvassed dressed up as an Amazon
If that's not 'sexing up the dossier' on the campaign trail, I don't know what is
With the Spear of Destiny, Odo saved the day
When in rotting Antioch, besieged they lay
How do men easily believe
Anything in need
When taken in by clever spin
From past to future wars to win
While others grin and rake it in
The faces change the motives range
War's exploitation is the same
Who'll come and join the Crusade?

Thursday 1 April 2010

Tom Paine

chorus:
OH TOM PAINE, OH TOM PAINE
MAY YOUR AGE OF REASON EVER REMAIN

Tom Paine was a radical writer
A revolutionary pamphleteer
He was born in Thetford England
In Seventeen Thirty Seven

He came from a family of Quakers
Their profession was courset-makers
After several years at sea
And working excise duties
He sailed to Americay

Wars of Independence as a private he did support
"These are the times that try Men's souls" he did report

chorus:

Jefferson the future president
Read a pamphlet called "Common Sense"
That was written by Paine and inspired
The Declaration of Independence

Common Sense it was widely read
But it didn't go to everybody's head
John Chalmers called him "A political quack"
John Adams called it "Crapulous Mass"

Newly formed Congress made him a secretary
And he met Iraquois Indians, saw harmony and dignity

chorus:

But he lost his position it is true
When to secret talks with France he did allude
Paine was sent over there to aquire a loan
Returning with silver and gold

This improved his lot to be sure
They gave him an estate, he took little more
Franklin was involved and Washington too
The money went straight into their cause

This was the only real estate that Paine ever owned
In Bordertown New Jersey he made his intermittent home

chorus:

When back in London in Seventeen Eighty Seven
Paine was living a private life
Revolution once again called his name
And he went back over to France

The Bastille fell in 'Eighty Nine
But it felt very different this time
Edmund Burke wrote a critique, "Reflections
On the Revolution in France"

Many people wrote replies but Paine's they wanted burned
His shocking, eloquent and dangerous 'The Rights of Man'

chorus:

It was William Blake the poet
Who tipped Tom off to head for Paris
When the State cried "Sedition" and "Libel"
This was one boat he didn't miss

Paine was tried 'in absentia'
Because the government must have felt the fear
They had agents make hate mobs and burn effigies
Just to make their feelings clear

Paine answered, "If it is libellous to promote Universal Peace
And expose the fraud of Monarchy, let 'Libeller' be written on my grave"

chorus:

Even though he spoke no word of French
Thomas Paine was elected Deputy
Of the National Convention
Where he voted with the Girondists

At the trial of King Louis the Sixteenth
It was said that Thomas Paine alone
Would have it that the King was granted
Asylum in America

After all, it was the Royalists who gave silver to his Revolution
Even for the Monarchy, he saw executions were no solution

chorus:

Now Robespierre and the Montagnards
Had risen up into power
As an ally of the disfavoured Girondins
Paine was arrested and banged up in some tower

Knowing he might meet the guillotine
Thomas once again took up his pen
To assault established religion
With his book 'The Age of Reason'

A chalk 4 on the door meant death in the morn
But Paine was ill, the door ajar for a breeze, the mark was missed,
Death's Angel passed him o'er

chorus:

The new American Minister to France
Successfully argued the case
For Paine's American citizenship
And he was re-admitted to the Electorate

He opposed the new constitution
Of Seventeen Seventy Five
It was a Montagnard document
Which for some the vote it denied

It is said that he met Napoleon and plotted an English Invasion
Bonaparte doted on Paine, who decided he was "The Completest Charlatan"

chorus:

Paine believed that now America
Had betrayed Revolutionary France
French and English politics disgusted him
He was really losing friends very fast

Back to America he went
But his popularity it was spent
People had read his Age of Reason
-Too much for their deluded religion

Paine thought that Washington had abandoned him
And accused him of private betrayal and public hypocrisy

chorus:

Thomas Paine died at age Seventy Two
When it seemed his reputation was through
Only six people came to his funeral
Including Negros two

"Shunned, abhored and execrated"
So many had wanted him dead
Though his name was dirt to most
"He preserved the poise of his soul"

Paine had been unshaken, his convictions remained intact
Still a freedom soldier, he never gave the hatred back

chorus:

Paine had lived the life of a Deist
He said "My mind is my own church"
He thought that private ownership
Robbed the people of the Right of their birth

He proposed emancipating slaves
And also the pension for old age
And a National Fund for everyone
Compensating for land taken away

William Cobbett exhumed his bones and took them back to England
Where in youth, the jeering mobs at Thetford stocks made concern for justice his natural opinion

chorus: chorus: chorus

The Cause of War

The cause of war I might well say, is never very far away
When communication's down and frowns are all we wear
It sneaks into the unknown ground and makes it's deals right there
It's silver tongue gets everyone involved inside a snare

The history books tell it so well, we should not need reminding
That at each turn with bridges burned, mutual hate was binding
Us into a fearful state as war was all we were finding
The black night had stol'n our sight and to our fates was blinding

I had a friend, a friend so true, we'd see any situation through
We were two lines but then one time, our nation split our lives in two
For country for creed for some stupid need, we were forced to bear emnities
Each fight against him we found it a sin and wished to return to our pleasantries

So make a prayer before the end I called to the other barrio
We cannot waste this precious time, make haste and do not tarry-o
And in that dark, we lit a spark, each from opposing sides married-o
And for an instant's link was made whilst the bullets o'er head did harry-o

And when the time came for the push I went, my head was fazing
Over we went, my mind was spent, my thoughts they stopped their racing
And in that hell of lead-shot rain, I heard my name, then stabbing pain
I fell into the mud to lay as the grenades and gunshot went blazing

And as I lay I had a dream such as like I have never seen
And saw them freely speaking lies, oh so many worm-tongues squeaking
The cause of war that we deplore is manufactured hate
I woke to wish these lies untied, but I just lay there bleeding

Now others on that stinking bridge were watching all the while in dread
For any who would come the way, cross No Man's Land by orders led
"Avaunt take Heed to this Decree", it was a Spirit speaking
A comet sped over our heads, across the sky went streaking

All soldiers stood in holy awe, they could not fire a shot no more
The Spirit spoke and it spoke strong, it spoke of that which they did long
Equanimity and family, to be free from political intrigue
And with it's voice it gave a choice, which to a man did please

Whose was this voice you may well ask? Who was this commanding Spirit?
That non-corporeal had them held, then took their lost soul and filled it?
It was the fact of all who'd died led by mendacity madness
The jaws of war could make gore no more, the claws could cause no sadness

Do you remember the Rainbow Centre?

Do you remember the London Rainbow Centre
Early 90's 420 Kentish Town Road
It was a church but we were pagan ravers
Eco-mental pixies come to save the world

Did you go to a rave there once on a full moon
Sit in a circle, paint your face or chant some Om?
Did you practice what you preach up on the One Love
Did you take it down the Tube and into Babylon?

chorus:
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ALL THE YOGHURT WEAVERS?
I HOPE THEY WOVE A WEB SO FINE
TO HOLD ALL THE MADNESS
'COS SOMEONE NEEDS TO
RAINBOW TRIBE ARE HERE ON TIME

Did you meet any of the Dongas Tribe there
Resting up from protesting Twyford or Solsbury Hill?
Where machines were cutting up the scenery
Which the D.O.T's stinking tarmac lanes now fill

Did you wear a crochet top? (like me)
Did you make a bender in the pews?
Did you pop up Hampstead Heath for a breather?
Or perhaps drop by for to pop some pills?

It was perfect anarchy at the Rainbow Centre
Activists and children doing it themselves
Shakers and makers at the Rainbow Centre
Teched-up, loved-up mainframe-wired
Environmental Elves

chorus:

We would go down for a demo in the City
And end up at Cooltan in Cold Harbour Lane
Leightonstone and Wandsworth didn't want the M11
Do the London circuit, Clairmont Road and back again

Colourful information boards to give the picture
On actions of activists and what you can do
D-I-Y culture, Empowerment through Action
Autonomous groups came and met, but only one loo

chorus:

The police never bothered us at the Rainbow Centre
Even though it got truly skaggy come the end
They gave the cases they could not handle to us
"Take me to the Rainbow Centre" cried one guy off his head

There was a fire one party night in the Creative Space
Fire Brigade came, we had to leave the place
En masse in dribs and drabs we headed out to Newbury
After which 'environmental damage' became a household phrase

chorus:

Those days '93 through '96 there was less greenwash
After Newbury road-protest everyone knew the score
And nagging feelings hidden beneath the surface
Were manipulated by ad-men, the fucking whores

I was there at the Rainbow Centre
It was the time of my life I'll tell
You wouldn't believe what went on at the Rainbow Centre
For a time we were invincible

chorus:

Though this is true

Chorus: (after each verse)
THOUGH THIS IS TRUE, I KNOW LOVE CAN REACH THROUGH

Here's a tale, I tell it true, concerning abuse of power
And unhappy lives it leaves behind, growing more each and every hour

Far oversea did Europe go, to fill the New World untainted
So took that World by force of war, before we were very much aquainted

With hypocrisy of church and state, and their lust for gold, which could not wait
Though Quaker colonies I do not implicate, the land was stripped of Man Innate

The Wars of Independence, of which in history lessons you will have heard the date
Were all on the land of a butchered race, the like of which will never be seen again

With the trade of slaves and tobacco, which take dignity from a man
From Jamestown out the modern world was made, from such bad seed began

Though Independence had it's declaration, such a high-minded concept
What came to pass wasn't quite so fine and left us with reasons for regret

The years went by and with new technologies, the world was getting smaller
From ships and guns to atomic bombs, the shadows they grow taller

And after World War number Two, many smaller wars ensued
Much the same but more, it's true, robbing poor peoples through and through

Now the many goods that the West consumes, little asking from where they issue
From chemical food to training shoes, are from countries very badly abused

And Shopping Malls in every town keep the exploitation High Street
Have sucked the very breath of life. Chrome and Glass are all we see

Such a system of production is not a ever-steady structure
The supermarkets rise, like Goliath's size, could fall hard and so be fractured

From Seattle to the City Mile, from Genoa, Prague and Copenhagen
People are smashed who raise the cry, protesting against the Institutions

And yet, beneath these Edifices of Modern Order, a song is sung that says "No more please"
People re-address the situation and cause awakefulness from this death grip dream

Tony Blair

Tony Blair look good he got the face
Got that smile and social grace
Prime Minister or Prime Suspect
Who or what does he protect?

Someone called him Bomber Blair
'Cos we're such friends to America
George W. Bush said "Let 'em roll"
And on Iraq the bombs took toll

Hey Hey Moma, something's going on around here
It's Yankee Doodle Dandy walking with Tony Blair

Spinnin' script writers they got the story
You just knew it was going to get gory
War on Iraq was a pre-emptive strike
Well have you ever heard the like?

Has anyone ever wondered in the U.K.
About this obsession with the U.S.A.
Is it healthy is it sane?
Or have we all been flushed down the drain?

Hey hey Moma something's going wrong around here
It's Yankee Doodle's poodle, A.K.A Tony Blair

Well now people do you believe
Everything that you receive?
What goes on behind closed doors
Sex it up to justify war

Where was the threat to our national security?
It was a message that lacked a certain purity
Alistair Campbell and his 40 minute scare
Not one jot of truth in there

Hey hey Moma something's going wrong around here
It's Tony's belligerent accomplice; Campbell, Alistair

Tony got ambition, he's taken it far
Likes to be seen with big Rock Stars
He don't mind if they sniff cocaine
See 'em in the papers, he's on top again

Public opinion public opinion
It's a mighty sway-able thing
Watch out all you peoples
What's the next one gonna bring?

Hey hey Moma something's going wrong around here
It's that failed rock-band manager. Presenting; Mr Tony Blair

Tony make a deal with a supermarket
He know his public don't want no more
Tony say one thing and do another
Tony do a trick with a revolving door

His wife bought a flat over in Bristol
Seems they got it on a whistle
The story broke and they got out
That was one law they couldn't flout

All you benefit frauds you better take care
But what you get is such a small share
Tax evasion is the rich man's way
Robin Hood come back today

Hey hey Moma, whose this poking 'round here?
It's our guide to moral virtue, Prime Minister Blair

As a war criminal he could be tried
But Blair tells us he never lied
He acted on what needed to be done
Didn't ya see that smoking gun?

Who pulls the strings? We know who wears the mask
If so, can they be brought to task?
Alistair and Tony are just the ones we see
What is the real identity?

Hey hey Moma, something something's in the air
Is it a bird? A plane? A lizard? Oh, it's only Tony Blair

I saw him in the paper putting down the Blues
Reds and Green-ers and in-betweeners
Will they all take us to the cleaners?

I'm singing about Tony, but would he care?
Off on a yacht with his billionaires
Lecturing all the World on peace
Will these wonders ever cease?

Hey hey Moma, something's gone wrong around here
Is that Jesus Christ our Saviour? I thought it was Tony Blair