Chumbawamba

[fox69]

"The Health & Happiness Show"

"The Health & Happiness Show"



That was really good
Yeah, wasn't it?
Yeah...
Uh, what about the record?
Ah, they'll get it...
It's a no-no
I've gotta heave-ho
I got no stomach for a dumbed-down tomato
Gene genie, rogue soya beanie

Get thee behind me patent margarinie
Here's to you and your health and happiness
Here's to you and your health and happiness
Here's to you and your health and happiness
Here's to you and your health and happiness
Bobby can you hear me?
Uh huh
What about this sou...

 

[fox69]

"The Land Of Do What You're Told"

"The Land Of Do What You're Told"



Have a word with your Patron Saint
Cover up the cracks with a lick of paint
All The exit doors are all double-locked
Because St Sebastian sways but doesn't rock

Here's to you - you put up a fight
You're the last to leave, now turn out the light
You danced to the Devil and the Feathery wife
Now the Ordnance Survey is mapping out your life

Look at the small print: it's what we agreed -
Sign your name before we teach you how to read
This is the land, the Land of Do What You're Told
The Land of the Free: if you don't leave the fold
Smile a little wider as you're waiting to be sold
This is the land, the Land of Do What You're Told

I'm a celebrity - let me in here
One last jump from the end of the pier
We breached the wall, but I was too tired to run
My Get Up And Go got up and now it's gone

Look at the small print: it's what we agreed -
Sign your name before we teach you how to read
This is the land, the Land of Do What You're Told
The Land of the Free: if you don't leave the fold
Smile a little wider as you're waiting to be sold
This is the land, the Land of Do What You're Told

This is the land, the Land of Do What You're Told
With a little lip service to breaking the mold
Smile a little wider as you're waiting to be sold
This is the land, the Land of Do What You're Told

We're going on strike for twelve percent
We're not downhearted yet
They're filming it all for a reality show
So twelve percent we'll get

 

[fox69]

"The Ogre"

"The Ogre"



The Ogre does what Ogres can
One prize beyond his reach –
Conquers those who write the world
But cannot master speech
Among the hurt and slain
On subjugated plain
The Ogre's words so morbid and mundane.

 

[fox69]

"The Physical Impossibility Of Death In The Mind Of Jerry Springer"

"The Physical Impossibility Of Death In The Mind Of Jerry Springer"



Damen Hurst said it came in with the tide
Now Jerry Springer, he's in formaldehyde

 

[fox69]

"The Song Collector"

"The Song Collector"



The Folk Society meet on Thursday nights
Clear their throats and put their coughs to flight
To sing the dusty cobwebs from the room
A repertoire both in and out of tune
Don't assume a singalong, or worse
This history in song and countless verse
Pays homage to the man who, long ago
Collected all the songs the singers know
Collected all the songs the singers know

Edward Alexander, man of action
Armed only with his reel-to-reel contraption
One hundred years ago in mac and boots
Set out to faithfully preserve the region's roots
And every night in some small village inn
Fortified with fortitude and gin
Mr Alexander, for a shilling
Would thus record your song, if you were willing
Would thus record your song, if you were willing

So word got round, and soon there formed a queue
And the line of willing singers grew and grew
Brass for oohs and aahs? You can't go wrong
When there's someone paying a shilling for a song
When all his tapes are filled up, Edward leaves
There's a history preserved, so he believes
But all the so-called singers back inside
They know they took a city scholar for a ride
They know they took a city scholar for a ride

For they shook the man for every coin he'd got
With words and tunes all made up on the spot
Invented tales not twenty minutes old
So history, like ale, is bought and sold.
The old contraption's packed away and boxed
And a century is marked upon the clock
So tradition holds that Edward's great collection
Is honoured with a weekly resurrection
Honoured with a weekly resurrection

And now the old Society sing the songs
Word for word, and kept where they belong
As once again, they eulogise the past
You can hear the ghosts of history laughing last
You can hear the ghosts of history laughing last

 

[fox69]

"The Standing Still"

"The Standing Still"



Once upon a time
Days of wine and roses and smug suburban swine
Same old songs, same old cabaret
A fairytale in Notting Hill
Take your partners for the standing still
Once upon a time
Not so happy ending for the Mersey and the Tyne
Who said the story had to end this way?
A fairytale on Beeston Hill
Take your partners for the standing still
Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid...

 

[fox69]

"The Triumph Of General Ludd"

"The Triumph Of General Ludd"



No more chant your old rhymes about old Robin Hood
His feats I do little admire
I'll sing the achievements of General Ludd
Now the hero of Nottinghamshire.

Brave Ludd was to measures of violence unused
'till his sufferings became so severe
That at last to defend his own interest he rose
And for the great fight did prepare.

The guilty may fear but no vengeance he aims
At the honest man's life or estate
His wrath is entirely confined to wide frames
And to those that would prices abate.

Those engines of mischief were sentenced to die
By unanimous vote of the trade
And Ludd who can all opposition defy
Was the grand executioner made.

And when in the work he destruction employs
Himself to no method confines
By fire and by water he gets them destroyed
For the elements aid his designs.

Whether guarded by soldiers along the highway
Or closely secured in a room
He shivers them up by night and by day
And nothing can soften their doom.

Ye may censure great Ludd's disrespect for the laws
Who ne'er for a moment reflects
That foul imposition alone was the cause
Which produced these unhappy effects.

Let the haughty the humble no longer oppress
Then shall Ludd sheath his conquering sword
His grievances instantly meet with redress
Then peace shall be quickly restored.

Let the wise and the great lend their aid and advice
Nor e'er their assistance withdraw
Till full-fashioned work at the old-fashioned price
Is established by custom and law.

Then the trade when this arduous contest is o'er
Shall raise in full splendor its head
And colting and cutting and swearing no more
Shall deprive all his workers of bread.

 

[fox69]

"The Untraditional"

"The Untraditional"



I meet my love under the stars
So far from watching eyes
Five long years we've met this way
My love, the night and I

So much in love we walked 'til dawn
Far away from city walls
In forest shelter-covered field
A flower blooms as darkness falls

This love so bold goes undeclared
A joy unseen, a world unknown
A love that dare not speak its name
Hidden treasure, precious stone

My lover's hand is wrapped in mine
Hidden always from the day
Across this meeting draws a veil
The age of reason turns away

For we two men go on and on
And my love walks next to me
And in some far off place I know
That I'll love may shameless be

 

[fox69]

"The Wasteland"

"The Wasteland"


Said the party to the ad-man
We'll conjure up a gimmick
The way to lead an ass
Is with a carrot and a stick
Dig down for minorities
Promise them concessions
Ride in on their backs
And then teach them all a lesson
Unemployment means depression
You're just victims of the recession
We can count on their support
If we can channel their emotions
[Chorus]
Populate the wasteland
Between leisure and the grave
Work and pray and place your vote
And some day you'll be saved
All these myths come tailor-made
To suit the company director
Myths that praise the dignity
Of cheap, disposable labor
Two different routes
To an industrial heaven
Work for boss and parliament
And all will be forgiven
It's the fear of being sacked
That lets the boss step up the pace
Because the minute you step out of line
There's someone took your place
[Repeat chorus]
Said the MP to the media
Can't we juggle this around
Sprinkle sugar on the dog shit
And we'll keep the figures down
Never let the left hand
See what's in the right
No-one's any wiser
And the problem's out of sight
Take your democratic choice
Take a scheme or starve
Job clubs, restart, YTS, CPs, EAS
Company profits doubled
Wages chopped in half
[Repeat]
[Repeat chorus]
Offer your life to the one true church
In the name of the conservative party
The labor party
And the liberal alliance
The promised land where banks outnumber churches
And your cars shall be martyrs to the cause
Capitalism in crisis
But on the third day it shall rise again
But on the third day it shall rise

 

[fox69]

"The Wizard Of Menlo Park"

"The Wizard Of Menlo Park"



Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow
And everywhere that Mary went the lamb was sure to go

Old Thomas Edison, mixing up the medicine
Messing up time from Accrington to Amazon
See them all come with their wires and booms
And their itchy little thumbs saying, "play your funky drum"

Each jump in the dark we claim as our own
We know it's a lie, we never acted alone
Each jump in the dark
Each jump in the dark

The machine became the star, beats to the bar
Poor Gus Dudgeon lying in his car
Down in the basement messing with the moment
Alchemy and elements, smashing up your instruments
Old Thomas Edison mixing up the medicine
Messing up time from Accrington to Amazon
See them all come with their wires and booms
And their itchy little thumbs saying, "play your funky drum"

A foot in the past, a head in a book
A soup of opinion, a ladle of luck
Each jump in the dark
Each jump in the dark

Old Thomas Edison mixing up the medicine
Messing up time from Accrington to Amazon
See them all come with their wires and booms
And their itchy little thumbs saying, "play your funky drum"

From starlight to flashlight, sorting out the copyright
It takes a little time but the contract's airtight
Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
The money's in the black but the needle's in the red

One, two, one, two, check,
Wednesday, Wednesday, Mississippi, yeah...

Old Thomas Edison mixing up the medicine
Messing up time from Accrington to Amazon
See them all come with their wires and booms
And their itchy little thumbs saying, "play your funky drum"