Tommy Duffy

It's not hard
To find out why
So many homeless people die
When there is no place to go
In the ice and rain and snow
Tommy Duffy lay down
And he did'nai rise again

He was on a bench in Lace Walk
Looking old and pretty drunk
But it didn't bother me
How far the man had sunk
When he asked me to unlock his phone
I did so straight away
A Gentleman of the old Road
Though somewhat held in sway

'Thank you very much' he said
I'm a headin' down the road
I like it much in Sidmouth Town
Down there on the Coast
Exeter it is too big
And I am getting old
Sidmouth Town it is just nice
I'd like to get a home

I'm trying to get off the drink
But got no place to go
I need to booze inside of me
To keep me from the cold
No one moaned he was a fuss
He slept in a Church porch
But sleeping rough in January
Snuffed his earthly torch

I read it in the local
The news was very sad
He died down at Port Royal
By the cliffs there at the Ham
Several people had not
Judged him a bad man
What can we do about this
Was their question then

The Land of Fiscal Plenty

In the Spring of the financial year
One Chancellor invented
A world he built for you and me
The land of fiscal plenty
No differences for rich or poor
Inflation fallen straight through the floor
His lies shone like the morning dew
In the land of fiscal plenty

In the land of fiscal plenty
World leaders all are kind
Policemen wear pink onesies
Tax you will not find
No borders and no conflict
Trade by jumble sale
The seas are clean
War a has~been
There are no secret submarines
In the land of fiscal plenty

In the land of fiscal plenty
We live happy and free
World bankers brook no arms fairs
It's just not their cup of tea
Politicians man soup kitchens
And bankers fund the poor
The economy runs like a dream
Injustice is never seen
In the land of fiscal plenty

~Ooooh
The clicking of the credits
In the government merited
Online casino tables
Is given free
Far overseas
And for those less able

In the land of fiscal plenty
There are no spending cuts
Crime is a thing of the past
The prisons all are shut
There is no indoctrination
No bullying in schools
Toxic waste it don't exist
Everybody lives in bliss
In the land of fiscal plenty

In the land of fiscal plenty
Not many take a job
The bankers pay for everything
They say 'Why, just because!'
There is no segregation
Because everybody cares
Their welfare state
Is praised as great
Everybody is a mate
In the land of fiscal plenty

In the land of fiscal plenty
Everyone has health
Dustmen and casual labourers
Are the ones with most wealth
Management have to busk
To make their ends meet
There is no slump
No credit crunch
No junkies are out to lunch
In the land of fiscal plenty

~Ooooh...

(repeat 1st verse}

A hundred thousand ways (1986}

Merry be the day that I cast my eyes on you
And merry be the day that we meet
Merry be the ways that I put myself to you
And merry be the ways that you are pleased

With a hundred wondrous ways to receive

Lying there in the summer fields
I look over to the hazy horizon
A hundred thousand birds all alight upon my gaze
Saying life has just begun

All those hundred thousand ones

Walking along upon the sea shore
Sparkling light all on the waves
Hear the sky call out a thousand times
Though I cannot quite hear what it says

Say it a hundred thousand million ways

Merry be the ways you come on to me
Merry be the ways we laugh
Merry be the ways we walk about this Earth
And please, not too sad the way we part

With the love of my one true heart

Working for the Governor (1986}

I've been working all day for the Governor

Working to earn my pay
If I don't work for the Governor
I won't get to eat today

OH ME, OH MY
WORKING FOR THE MAN
BUT I'D RATHER DIE

Yes I'd rather die than work for him
But I got a wife and child
I'll be turned out of house and home
And they don't can live in the wild

If I don't work for the Governor
I'm told it's against the grain
Against the crowd is against fellow man
And I don't know if I can, don't know if I can

But I've got to work for the Governor
All my life I've done that thing
And I do have some pride in the work I do
If I left I don't know what that would bring

I've got to work for the Governor
Often through till the mornin' light
Leaves me no time for family
My sorrow's as dark as night

I've been working all day for the management
And my boss had a word with me
Seems my section is overstaffed
Redundancy may be coming my way

Sitting at home watching the fire get low
I'm wondering about my life
Wondering about my wife and children
I wonder all through the night

I'm working all day down the mineshaft
My world is black dust and cramp
When I get out I'll go to sleep
Out of this place of lamps

And my foreman tells me to work harder
And I do because of my pay
I'd rather not work for the Governor
But that's not for me to say

I'm working all day for the Peaceman
And he tries to fill me in his gap
He's got many reasons to hold me
But he's held back by the straps

You should see the way he rails
Down those government lines
See the venom that he spits out
At those corporation lies

We Shall Break Free (1986}

First for a mother left weeping by the sea
Second for the conscript yearning to be free
Third for a girl whose sadness does not end
Fourth for a boy they to war do send

AND WE TRIED TO CLIMB
BUT WE WERE  PUSHED DOWN
AND WE TRIED TO BUILD
BUT THE WAR TOO MANY KILLED
AND WE CLIMB AGAIN
THEY THROW US TO THE GROUND
WE SHALL BREAK FREE
FLY LIKE A BIRD
FROM THESE CHAINS

Many live with little to eat
Some folk dine on a rich man's meat
Poor men fight to defend the city walls
Soldiers kill them when those walls a~fall

Poacher has to live on illegal kills
Has to snatch what from the silver platter falls
Gamekeeper he shoot that man with gun
Think of his wife and children they'll die each one

Ladies play croquet embroider tapestry fine
Old Lords play chess and drink vintage wine
Lean man sits in squalor in a small hut all alone
Cold is so bad he feels it to the bone

Clerk sits with ledger to note down all the taxes
Increase the rates and it never relaxes
Screw you down if you can't pay up
If you can pay it's never enough

And they'll send you to Iraq they'll send you to Chad
To fight overseas you know you've been had
Defending our pile of sin, greed and dirt
War and destruction, what is it worth

Spanner in the Works (1986} A Seditious Luddite's Ballade

Big wheels keep on turning round and round
Grind my soul into the ground
Cog move machine, screw us up badly
Hell~bent for doom round here sadly
We've got to stop this pollution
Put a spanner in the works
You know it's a cert'
With a spanner in the works

The men with the money set the wheels a turning
And give the workers the money they're earning
And what do we think is the price that we pay
Destroy the Earth, we're doing it today
It's not a good situation
Put a spanner in the works
You know it's a cert'
With a spanner in the works

Chimneys reach up to the clouds
Belching out fumes the sky it shrouds
Wrap us up in vile useless confusions
Make us ill stops our evolution
To stop this intrusion
Put a spanner in the works
You know it's a cert'
With a spanner in the works

All night and day the factories are ringing
Weapons of war are what they are bringing
Destroy our Earth without a care
Where will we live, all in thin air
This is not what we need
Put a spanner in the works
You know it's a dead cert'
With a spanner in the works

To the men with the offices tall
There are those who'd break your walls
Your senseless kind of exploitation
Gives them no cause for hesitation
You know it's gonna come
WIth a spanner in the works
You know it's a cert'
With a spanner in the works

Pack up your Troubles (1986}

Pack up your troubles
In a big brown bag
Take them away for a day
Forget about the time
And just enjoy yourself
Take your friends along the way
If you're ever complicated
By all the rules so indicated
Just throw them away
The point is to be yourself, see yourself
Not to worry 'bout it all

Pack up your troubles

When you're walking down the road
Go the way your senses show
Follow after your nose
Look around and you'll see
All of this fair country
See how it changes
Taking time to talk to your friends
See what they think
If they like the way they're going
And the things that it is showing
If they think that it stinks

Pack up your troubles

Peace of mind comes to one in strange places
Let it come, oh let it come
Spread it around, it's that kind of stuff
Let it flow, oh let it flow
Take a chance and let yourself relax
Let it groove, let your body relax

And so you're motivated
And you're moving once again
Ever onwards down the road
And of course that same old road
Is the life you have known
So take it easy, take it easy
Now you know there is no difference
It is all as it is
You're older now than you were
Now you're wiser too
That's something you can chew
Or spit it out if you want to

 Pack up your troubles...