Chumbawamba

[fox69]

"That Same So-So Tune"

"That Same So-So Tune"


[spoken]
"Bang, the little drummer takes a solo, reaching his young hands all over traps and kettles and cymbals and foot-peddle
BOOM in a fantastic crash of sound – but what will happen?"

The dance halls are dark now
The ballrooms are closed
No wax for my needle and I don't suppose
You'll be swinging by anytime soon
Singing that same so-so tune
Nobody's playing
No-one's been paid
The music's all stopped and
You never said you could
Wait from September to June
Singing that same so-so tune
While brothers are fighting and working to rule
Here's a tired, sentimental old song
It goes: 'Ooh, baby, baby
Treating me wrong'
We'll be back where we belong before long
(It's the beat of the heart)
(It's the beat of the heart)
(It's the beat of the heart)
(It's the beat of the heart)
(It's the beat of the heart)

While brothers are fighting and working to rule
Here's a tired, sentimental old song
It goes: 'Ooh, baby, baby
Treating me wrong'
We'll be back where we belong before long
I've heard all the stories
It's wild and it's new
Hot sounds in the city
But what can I do?
Might as well shoot for the moon
Singing that same so-so tune
Singing that same so-so tune

 

[fox69]

"That's How Grateful We Are"

"That's How Grateful We Are"


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

 

[fox69]

"The Bad Squire"

"The Bad Squire"



The merry brown hares came a-leaping
Over the crest of the hill
Where the clover and corn lay a-sleeping
Under the moonlight so still
Leaping so late and so early
‘Till under their bite and their tread
The swedes and the wheat and the barley
Lay cankered and trampled and dead

A poacher's poor widow sat sighing
On the side of the moss-patterned bank
Where under the gloom of the fir-woods
One acre of ground laying rank
She watched over barely grown clover
Where rabbit or hare never ran
For the ground that it all covered over
Hid the blood of a good murdered man

She thought of the shaded plantation
And the hares and her husband's own blood
And the voice of her own indignation
Rose up to the throne of her God
There's blood on your new foreign shrubs, Squire
There's blood on your pointer's cold feet
There's blood on the game that you sell Squire
And there's blood on the game that you eat

You have sold out the labouring man, Squire
Both body and soul for to shame
To pay for your seat in the House, Squire
And to pay for the feed of your game
You made him a poacher yourself, Squire
When you'd give not the work nor the meat
And your barley-fed hares robbed the garden
At our starving poor little one's feet

When packed into one tiny chamber
Man, mother and little ones lay
While the rain pattered in on our bride bed
And the walls barely held out the day
When we lay in the heat of the fever
On the mud and the clay of the floor
‘Till you parted us all for three months, Squire
And we knocked at the working house door

So to kennels and liveried varlets
Where you starved your own daughter of bread
And worn out with liquor and harlots
See your heirs at your feet lying dead
When you follow them into your heaven
And your soul rots asleep in the grave
Then Squire, you will not be forgiven
By the free men you took as your slaves

 

[fox69]

"The Big Issue"

"The Big Issue"



There are those
Spend the night under bridges
Over by the river
Down in the park through the winter

But there's a house that I know
Safe and warm
And no-one ever goes there
(Down where the priests bless the wine...)

She's been born into the wrong time
She keeps nonsense on her mind
She's a poet, she's a builder
She's as bored as bored can be
She's a have-not, she's a know-all
She knows just how to say yes
She's skating frozen chaos
Till the no-good gods are dead

But sometimes in the dead of night
Woken by the city lights
She wonders how she keeps alive...

This is the girl who lost the house
Which paid to the man who put up the rent sign
And threw out the girl to
Feather his own sweet home

She's a clueless social climber
Likes the wrong side of the bed
She's a pick-me-up and she's a drink-to-me
In the company of friends
She's tried every variation
She's co common, she's so cold
She's homesick for a future
Can't stomach what she's told

On every street in every town
All her days are up and down
At home among the lost-and-founds...

This is the girl who lost the house
Which paid to the man who put up the rent sign
And threw out the girl to
Feather his own sweet home

Here's the good samaritan
Looks away and carries on

This is the girl who lost the house
Which paid to the man who put up the rent sign
And threw out the girl to
Feather his own sweet home

Thank you for every tree and flower
Thank you for every sky of blue
Thank you I should be every hour
Truely thanking you

 

[fox69]

"The Candidates Find Common Ground"

"The Candidates Find Common Ground"


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

 

[fox69]

"The Cutty Wren"

"The Cutty Wren"



Oh where are you going? said Milder to Moulder
Oh we may not tell you! said Festel to Fose
We're off to the wood! said John the Red Nose
We're off to the wood! said John the Red Nose
And what will you do there? said Milder to Moulder
Oh we may not tell you! said Festel to Fose
We'll shoot the cutty wren! said John the Red Nose
We'll shoot the cutty wren! said John the Red Nose
Oh how will you cut him up? said Milder to Moulder
Oh we may not tell you! said Festel to Fose
With knives and with forks! said John the Red Nose
With knives and with forks! said John the Red Nose
And who´ll get the spare ribs? said Milder to Moulder
Oh we may not tell you! said Festel to Fose
We'll give them all to the poor! said John the Red Nose
We'll give them all to the poor! said John the Red Nose

 

[fox69]

"The Day The Nazi Died"

"The Day The Nazi Died"



We're told that after the war
The Nazis vanished without a trace
But battalions of fascists
Still dream of a master race

The history books they tell
Of their defeat in '45
But they all came out of the woodwork
On the day the Nazi died

They say the prisoner at Spandau
Was a symbol of defeat
Whilst Hess remained imprisoned
And the fascists; they were beat

So the promise of an Aryan world
Would never materialize
So why did they all come out of the woodwork
On the day the Nazi died

The world is riddled with maggots
The maggots are getting fat
They're making a tasty meal of all
The bosses and bureaucrats

They're taking over the boardrooms
And they're fat and full of pride
And they all came out of the woodwork
On the day the Nazi died

So if you meet with these historians
I'll tell you what to say
Tell them that the Nazis
Never really went away

They're out there burning houses down
And peddling racist lies

And we'll never rest again...
Until every Nazi dies...

 

[fox69]

"The Devil's Interval"

"The Devil's Interval"


If you should walk out in the morning
To fetch your water from the well
Good people please beware
Little children do take care
Watch out for the devil's interval

When strumming through the woods in springtime
When evening blackbirds coo and caw
Such sounds of joy and sadness
May hide the prince of darkness
Beware the devil's interval
Beware the devil's interval

The kettle whistlin' in the kitchen
The chiming clock that's in the hall
Should they sound e flat to a
Then lucifer is on his way
Here comes the devil's interval
Here comes the devil's interval

Don't take your loved one to the dance hall
Lest music drag you down to hell
Pay no mind to songs like these
For I may be Mephistopheles
Singing the devil's interval
Singing the devil's interval

Aaahaa...Aahaa...Aahaa...Aaah [x3]

 

[fox69]

"The Diggers Song"

"The Diggers Song"


You noble diggers all stand up now, stand up now
You noble diggers all stand up now
The wasteland to maintain sin [?] cavaliers by name
Your digging does maintain and persons all defame
Stand up now, stand up now
Your houses they pull down stand up now, stand up now
Your houses they pull down, stand up now
Your houses they pull down to fright your men in town
But the gentry must come down and the poor shall wear the crown
Stand up now diggers all
With spades and hoes and plows stand up now, stand up now
With spades and hoes and plows, stand up now
Your freedom to uphold sin [?] cavaliers are bold
To kill you if they could and rights from you to hold
Stand up now diggers all
The gentry are all round stand up now, stand up now
The gentry are all round stand up now
The gentry are all round on each side the are found
Their wisdom so profound to cheat us of our ground
Stand up now stand up now
The lawyers they conjoin stand up now stand up now
The lawyers they conjoin stand up now
To rescue they advise, such fury they devise, the devil in them lies
And hath blinded both their eyes
Stand up now, stand up now
The clergy they come in stand up now, stand up now
The clergy they come in stand up now
The clergy they come in and say it is a sin
That we should now begin our freedom for to win
Stand up now diggers all
'Gainst lawyers and 'gainst priests stand up now stand up now
'Gainst lawyers and 'gainst priests stand up now
For tyrants they are both, even flat against their oath
To grant us they are loathe free meat and drink and cloth
Stand up now diggers all
The club is all their law, stand up now stand up now
The club is all their law, stand up now
The club is all their law, to keep all men in awe
That they no vision saw to maintain such a law
Stand up now diggers all

 

[fox69]

"The Good Ship Lifestyle"

"The Good Ship Lifestyle"


Fairless, Bailey, Pharaoh, Hepperties,
Rally, Ruffle, Challen, So...
Travelga, Fiddister, Irisy, Fiscay,
Umber, Forfend, Promity forth time.

This is the Good Ship Lifestyle
All my friends jumped ship
I elect me the captain
This is the loneliest voyage
I've ever been on
Up in the crow's nest -
Over there! I see land!
First mate? There is no First Mate...
This is the Good Ship Lifestyle

Sail away from the world [x2]

[CHORUS]
So steer a course
A course for nowhere
And drop the anchor
My little Empire
I'm going nowhere (This is the Good Ship Lifestyle) [x4]

This is the Good Ship Lifestyle
I fly my very own flag
TV dinners for one
At the captain's table
Repel all the boarders!
Draw the curtains tighter!
Where's the crew? There is no crew...
This is the Good Ship Lifestyle

Sail away from the world [x2]

[CHORUS x2]