Chumbawamba

[fox69]

"Creepy Crawling"

"Creepy Crawling"



What a wonderful world

A loose door-jam, a light left on
The oldest national lottery
Enter Johnny-Go-Darkly
Come to spoil my party
Smell of faces lingers
Echo of light fingers
Cold comfort blankets
Steeped in creeping anger

Flatfoot comes poking
Compounding my misery
Grinding pestle and mortar
Adding insult to injury
If only this, if only that,
If only in my guts
See my life before my eyes
Trampled underfoot

Creepy crawling, creepy crawling

All the creeps go creepy crawling
Same thing every night
How can stealing candy from a baby
Seem alright?

Corvino, carrion crow
Skulking with his mobile
Slippery peat-bog eyes
Stick-on smiley smile
Small print like quicksand
Not a wooden leg to stand on
Sinking through my stomach
The ground beneath me gone

Free-fall, call Ophelia
Clutching at straw
Mixed with bloody feathers
From scruff of neck of crow
Johnny go! Johnny gone!
Too much drink in your tum-tum-tum
See this finger, see this thumb
See this fist and watch it come

Creepy crawling, creepy crawling

All the creeps go creepy crawling
Same thing every night
How can stealing candy from a baby
Seem alright?

 

[fox69]

"Dance, Idiot, Dance"

"Dance, Idiot, Dance"



Here comes Nicholas, fiddle in hand,
into a world that he can't understand.
You can't keep pace with the master
race, his feet they're going all over
the place - he can't see his moves cos
there's egg on his face. Dance, idiot,
dance! His body's as stiff as
a cold lasagne, 'cos all he knows is
'Rule Brittannia'. His rhythm's so bad
that we're supposin' - maybe it's cos
his legs are frozen? Shouldn't be
wearing lederhosen! Dance, idiot,
dance! Messianical look in his eye,
arms akimbo, slapping his thigh. He
wrinkles his snout at a likely wench
(we've censored her answer and
pardoned her French) - it's hard for
your average Ubermensch. Dance,
idiot, dance! Poor old Nicholas got
up today, to Cecil Sharpe House he
made his way. Wore his uniform just
to impress and said, "this must be the
place, I guess, for joining the EFD-SS?"
Dance, idiot, dance!

 

[fox69]

"Do Not Adjust Your Life"

"Do Not Adjust Your Life"


[TV changing]

Man found dead in armchair
Sitting next to wife transfixed and knitting

Channel stays unchanged
They dumbly watch, don't make a sound
They're force-fed shit
From breakfast-time
To the closedown

T.V. tells them what to be
And what to say and what to do
How to act and how to lie
But never question
WHY

And they're always
Switched off

Wife says
"Time for winner takes all
I wish we had remote control"
Man can't hear and goes unheard
As she knits through his final words

If you want to turn me on
Turn the television off
If you want to turn me on
Turn the television off
If you want to turn me on
Turn the television off
If you want to turn me on
Turn the television off!

[TV]

 

[fox69]

"Don't Fence Me In"

"Don't Fence Me In"


Give me land, lots of land under starry skies above
Don't fence me in
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love
Don't fence me in

Let me be by myself in the easy breeze
And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees
Set me up forever but I ask you please
Don't fence me in

Just turn me loose, let me straddle my old saddle underneath the Western sky
On my cayoose let me wander over yonder 'til I see the mountain tribes

I want to ride to the ridge where the West commences
I'll kick at the moon until I lose my senses
I can't look at hobbles and I can't stand fences
Don't fence me in
No, papa, don't you fence me in

[Excerpts from "The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner" (1962):]
"Well, I think that'll be all for now. Thank you."
"You mean I can go now, sir?"
"Yes."
"All right, thank you very much, sir."

 

[fox69]

"Don't Pass Go"

"Don't Pass Go"



Didn't he know it was a waste of time
All stitched up by a thin blue line
Didn't he know it was a waste of time
All stitched up by a thin blue line

Well, the facts said yes
But the judge said no
Go straight to jail and don't pass go
He didn't understand
And he told them so
Go straight to jail and don't pass go
Don't pass go

There ain't no justice, just us
There ain't no justice, just us

Didn't he know it was a waste of time
All stitched up by a thin blue line

A little self-protection
They don't want to know
Go straight to jail and don't pass go
And he won't say sorry
Play the old Jim Crow
Go straight to jail and don't pass go
Don't pass go

Didn't he know it was a waste of time
All stitched up by a thin blue line

White paranoia
It runs the show
Go straight to jail and don't pass go
You want table manners
You get rule of law
Go straight to jail and don't pass go
Don't pass go

Didn't he know it was a waste of time
All stitched up by a thin blue line
Don't pass go
Didn't he know it was a waste of time
All stitched up by a thin blue line
Don't pass go
Didn't he know it was a waste of time
All stitched up by a thin blue line
Don't pass go

 

[fox69]

"Don't Try This At Home"

"Don't Try This At Home"


It's a long walk to the gallows
It's a small step to swing free
The crying in the tower
For my conspirators and me
Gunpowder and modem
And a dream of liberty

And then they'll tell you
Don't try this at home
Oh yes, they'll tell you
Don't try this at home

If you walk on the beach with King Canute
You'll be walking back alone
Tonight he'll dine on oysters
While we fall like green acorns
We'll be putting down our roots
Right in the centre of the storm

Oh, but they'll tell you
Don't try this at home
Oh yes, they'll tell you
Don't try this at home

The cry of gulls, the hum of streets
The buzz of phones, the march of feet
We'll meet tonight to draw up plans
Exclamations, ampersands

Somewhere across the water
They're storming palace gates
Scared of the moth-flame metaphor
We fall asleep and wait
Singing for a future
But the chorus comes too late

Because they'll tell you
Don't try this at home
Oh yes, they'll tell you
Don't try this at home

Don't, don't, don't, don't [repeats to end]
Don't try this at home [repeats to end]
Try this at home [repeats to end]

So we're coming to the last dance
I've got another request
With your best foot forward
We'll lay this ghost to rest

So we're coming to the last dance
I've got another request
With your best foot forward
We'll lay this ghost to rest

So we're coming to the last dance
I've got another request

 

[fox69]

"Drip, Drip, Drip"

"Drip, Drip, Drip"



Eat, sleep and crap
For to prey on your needs
Down a dark street
In backwater Leeds
I seen yer comin'
Come in, lads!
You seen the ad?
Too bad, bad, bad

What you get
Is what you see
It's a trickledown theory
And it's coming to me
Life's a whip-round
And I've got the whip
It's a sinking ship
Drip, drip, drip

Drip, drip, drip goes the water

Take me in
Throw me out
Put me up
Let me down

Dark, satanic
Run-of-the-mill
Sing us a song
And I'll send you the bill
My nicotine grip
My smoking gun
It's how I get my fun
Better run, run, run

Your olfactory nerves
All up the spout
You can't smell a rat
When your rose is out
Rent-to-kill
By any other name
Kiss an old flame
Shame, shame, shame

Drip, drip, drip goes the water

Take me in
Throw me out
Put me up
Let me down

 

[fox69]

"Dumbing Down"

"Dumbing Down"


Are you happy here
In Themepark, U.S.A.?
And do you sometimes wish
That your life was plug and play?

And are the words to this song
Concise enough to follow?
Is your smart food
Simple enough to swallow?

We're dumbing down
Dumb-dee-dumb-dumb
Dumbing down
Dumb-dee-dumb-dumb

Dumb-diddy-dumb-dumb-dumb-dumb [x7]

Are we only eating words from a can
Just because we can?
And is Disneyworld
All we understand?

Will our history
Be written out in headlines?
And hand-me-downs, and miracles
And land mines...

We're dumbing down
Dumb-dee-dumb-dumb
Dumbing down
Dumb-dee-dumb-dumb

 

[fox69]

"Dutiful Servants And Political Masters"

"Dutiful Servants And Political Masters"



One, two, one, two, three, four
Things were rather different in great grandfather's day
He just put a chain around their ankles and made them work for no pay
He took everything they owned and yet still demanded more
He did a bloody good job in taming the poor
Now I'm rather more subtle, I say, I'll tell you what I will do
I'll do everything I can to try and help you
And you'll be helping me, I say, and I'll see that you're alright
You can have a place of your own, you can even pretend to be white
And you won't have to worry, I'll have a quiet word with your mates
Oh they'll be alright, they'll have enough on their plate
I'll put a bit in their mouths, you just pull hard on the reins
They'll do anything for you and they won't complain
You'll be so much better off, I say, you can share my paradise
Just sign my piece of paper and I'll organize your life
And it never fails, it does the trick, it works every time
So me and my dear wife and the family's doing fine
Great granddad got his dukedom when slavery was abolished
Dear old dad became a viscount when the Empire was finished
But times have changed for the better with freedom of choice
We're a thousand times richer, QED His Master's Voice

A dog stares into a gramophone trumpet, waits for its call to action
Mute and obedient, standing to attention
Look a little closer, the dog is a woman
She's working under a system that she can't understand
Trapped inside a world of labor and heat
So that she and her children will be able to eat
The trumpet is patriarchy, it's old and fixed
Where poor men are lured by desire to be rich
Where the limited power is still given to men
Where development aid is so wastefully spent
Where western education enforces this crap
Where women work in the open, yet live in a trap
There's one solution, and this is it
The dog leaps on the gramophone and has a shit

 

[fox69]

"El Fusilado"

"El Fusilado"



Listen close to this crooked mouth
For my story I will tell–o
Lived in Mexico by the name of Wenseslao Moguel–o
Left my home in Santiago
The heart of the city of Merida
Served with my brothers and sisters all
For the army of Pancho Villa

Stand me straight against the nearest wall
Line up your bravest soldiers oh
Ten good shots I'll take them all
They call me El Fusilado

The Federales captured me
Bound up my arms with wire
Officer comes he says “Take your aim –
Steady your guns and fire!”
Bullet holes all across my chest
Ripped up my shirt and my body–o
Heart beat on through the silenced guns
To the rhythm of life inside me–o

Stand me straight against the nearest wall
Line up your bravest soldiers oh
Ten good shots I'll take them all
They call me El Fusilado

Fell to the ground the officer came
One last shot to the head–o
Heard through the pain as he walked away
And left me there for dead–o
All went quiet so I crawled away
I wasn't giving up to the glory
Ten good shots I took them all
And lived to tell my story

Stand me straight against the nearest wall
Line up your bravest soldiers oh
Ten good shots I'll take them all
They call me El Fusilado.

A true story. Wenseslao Moguel was captured while fighting in the Mexican revolution in 1915 and without trial sentenced to face the firing squad, ‘las sentencias al paredon'. After being shot by the squad, and despite receiving the ‘tiro de gracia' (shot at close range by the captain), Wenseslao somehow survived. He managed to escape and spent much of his life touring the USA with the ‘Ripley's Believe It Or Not' travelling museum.