Chumbawamba

[fox69]

"If It Is To Be, It Is Up To Me"

"If It Is To Be, It Is Up To Me"


If it is to be, it is up to me [repeats]

And as we sail, blows wild the gale
And as we sail, blows wild the gale

If it is to be, it is up to me [repeats]

Sweet flows the water
Yellow as royal piss
Speech turns to stammer
Your lips are too tight to kiss
I've never seen rabbits
Looking as scared as this

And as we sail, blows wild the gale

If it is to be, it is up to me [repeats]

And as we sail, blows wild the gale
And as we sail, blows wild the gale

If it is to be, it is up to me [repeats]

A five times champion
Wouldn't row as fast
Caught in the eddies
Between future and past
Blowing a hurricane
From the Royal arse

And as we sail, blows wild the gale

If it is to be, it is up to me [repeats]

And as we sail, blows wild the gale
And as we sail, blows wild the gale

 

[fox69]

"Introduction"

"Introduction"



In the dark times, will we be singing?
Yes, we'll be singing of the dark times.

Every new day's dawn
Brings a song of it's own
Waiting to be sung.

Every new day's dawn
Brings a song of it's own

 

[fox69]

"Invasion"

"Invasion"



The first world's got greedy, we're consuming it all
The third world's got hunger and military control
This unequal balance is a master plan
One gets rich from the other's land

They've got it all worked out and we give our consent

They've got it all worked out for Central America
They've got it all worked out for Africa
And in our naivety we believe myths and over consume
And give them our consent, dying in the shadow of the USA
Let them eat bullshit, make the land pay

Make a fast deal with the local elite
Then substitute cash crops where once grew wheat
Build a cycle of dependence on a starvation diet
With food as a weapon, workers stay quiet

And multinational names have blood on their brands
From taking an interest in misused lands
Del Monte, Tate and Lyle, Ralston Purina
Coca-Cola, RTZ and Unilever
All packaging lifestyles for the glamorous west
Expand the company, exploit the rest

We are not isolated by distance
But by greed and our racist history
Just a wall's width away
Still impossible to see across
This space in front on me

It's we who write this history
We who guard the money tree
We support the companies
We stole the colonies

And when the system starts to crack
We'll have to ready to give it all back

See the space which lies between the rich and the poor
How the space increases as we keep on taking more
Keeping that space between us all
Is how the West can keep control

With a mission and a cheque book promising aid
Posing for the camera, the United Nations man came
He talked of control and the terrible drought
And the way that the West would bail them out

They he stopped smiling and talked conditions
Of mutual aid, of American wishes
Sending in aid with sewn on strings
If they won't buy arms, then it's pulled back in

Feeding the world American style
Col. Sanders has an empire behind his smile
Back up the investments with a military regime
Then cleverly say, "It's to keep the world free"

But the multinational myths are beginning to fall
The poor don't want aid, they want control
And if we really want to see the Third World eat
We've got to see through the wrapping on the high street

Past barriers of culture that dictate our lives
We're busy consuming as the other half dies
And the answer's not a question on charity
Not whilst profit's still the top priority

So let the glossy shop fronts know what to expect
And you bosses of companies
And the cycle of hungry children
Will keep on going round
Until we burn the multinationals to the ground

 

[fox69]

"Jacob's Ladder"

"Jacob's Ladder"



Like rusty old nails at the bottom of the sea
Telling no tales, for the good of the admiralty
You jump when you're told to through the open door
And the King of Norway, he's the man you all died for

On this, Jacob's ladder
The only way up is down
Three days in the water
Watching all the secrets drown
Jacob's ladder

And they sent him to the wars to be slain, to be slain
And they sent him to the wars to be slain

A thousand lifetimes, left standing at the docks
In the bar down in Whitehall, they're sure the boat won't rock
In a file marked secret's in a drawer kept closed
Nobody wonders because nobody knows

On this Jacob's ladder
The only way up is down
Three days in the water
Watching all the secrets drown
Jacob's ladder

And they sent him to the wars to be slain, to be slain
And they sent him to the wars to be slain

And they sent him to the wars to be slain, to be slain
And they sent him to the wars to be slain
And they sent him to the wars to be slain, to be slain
And they sent him to the wars to be slain

On this Jacob's ladder
The only way up is down
Three days in the water
Watching all the secrets drown

On this Jacob's ladder
The only way up is down
Three days in the water
Watching all the secrets drown
Jacob's ladder

Sooner or later
We'll dig up the body and try your cadaver
Sooner or later
We'll dig up the body and try your cadaver
Sooner or later

Jacob's ladder

 

[fox69]

"Jesus In Vegas"

"Jesus In Vegas"


And I'll give you a free ride to this underground stadium. They'll pick up the fair and they'll even tip you, don't even worry about it, man. You'll love this joint. We'll stop off, we'll buy some booze, and, uh, you'll bring it in and it's just incredible. The girls will be all over you.
I am the Lord of the very last dance
I've got 'Tommy' on the leg of my pants
I've got the audience in the palm of my hands
My good friend Sinatra on my right
Andrew Lloyd Webber is doing the lights
It's twice a night for twenty-five nights
One more little line, then everyone back to mine
Jesus in Vegas, taking care of business
Jesus in Vegas
I'll pull your goddamned tongue right out by the roots
Jesus in Vegas, taking care of business
Jesus in Vegas
I'll pull your goddamned tongue right out by the roots
I've got Basie conducting the band
I got a penthouse suite at the Sands
And my feet never touch the ground
Are there any Branch Davidians in the house?
Here's Jim Jones as a pantomime horse
That showbiz gets right up your nose
One more little line, then everybone back to mine
Jesus in Vegas, taking care of business
Jesus in Vegas
I'll pull your goddamned tongue right out by the roots
Jesus in Vegas, taking care of business
Jesus in Vegas
I'll pull your goddamned tongue right out by the roots
Jesus in Vegas, taking care of business
Jesus in Vegas
[repeat]

 

[fox69]

"Just A Form Of Music"

"Just A Form Of Music"


It is a real pleasure to be here with you this afternoon. I always count it a priviledge whenever I have the opportunity to stand before a group of students in an assembly such as this. You know, most of you are at the point in life when you're making the decisions that are going to determine your philosophy and your attitude toward life. It was in the early teenage years that unfortunately I made some wrong decisions. I made the decision to turn my back on everything that my church and my parents had tried to teach me. My idea was, I'm going to live life like I want to live it and I don't care what anybody else thinks or anybody else says. But it wasn't until I was nineteen that one evening in a small church I came to the conclusion that if I was really going to get what I wanted out of life I'd have to change that kind of an attitude. Today I am not here to prove any one or any thing right or wrong, but I want to talk to you about some ideas and attitudes that have been communicated through the means of music. And I hope that together we can stop and think about some serious issues that face you as the youth of America. It's possible I could walk out on this stage today and deliver a speech mocking the flag or ridiculing some of the leaders of our government and I suppose there are some of you who might not say a word. Perhaps I could stand here and curse God or use profanity without upsetting some of you, or maybe I could take my draft card out of my pocket, stand here and defiantly tear it up in pieces, and I suppose there'd be some of you who wouldn't say a thing. But there's one thing of which I am reasonably certain--if I were to walk out here today and just dare to say one word against The Beatles, Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Steppenwolf, Iron Butterfly, Led Zeppelin, The Raiders, or The doors, some of you would want to come up here and tear me limb from limb. The question I'd like to ask is this--I wonder would that really be right, or perhaps would it illustrate that this thing called Rock and Roll is more than just a form of music?

 

[fox69]

"Just Desserts"

"Just Desserts"



And uh, uh, every (security) (no, let him stay) no (let him stay) well at least it's a fruit pie
(let's pray for him right now, Anita, let's pray, Anita, why don't you pray, that's all right) father, we want to thank you for the opportunity of coming to Des Moines, and father I want to ask that you forgive him (and that we love him) and that we love him, and that we're praying for him to be delivered from his deviant lifestyle, father

See them scramble to the top
Watch them fall from grace
Never trust a man
With egg on his face

Groucho Marxists look so sweet
Slapstick anarchists, nice enough to eat
Peter Kropotkin in the way we talk
Charlie Cairoli in the way we walk

See them scramble to the top
Watch them fall from grace
Never trust a man
With egg on his face

Intellectual tarts with a good left hook
Copycat killers, cover and duck
Polite assassins, you shout, I scream
And the party starts, on a count of one, two, three

See them scramble to the top
Watch them fall from grace
Never trust a man
With egg on his face

We talk without words, and everybody understands
Just desserts, delivered by hand
Nobody move or the CEO
Gets it in the face with cream and dough

See them scramble to the top
Watch them fall from grace
Never trust a man
With egg on his face

See them scramble to the top
Watch them fall from grace
Never trust a man
With egg on his face

See them scramble to the top
Watch them fall from grace
Never trust a man
With egg on his face

"What? What's that? Who's there? Fido? Ahhh, it's you Mrs. Arbuthnot"

 

[fox69]

"Just Look At Me Now"

"Just Look At Me Now"


Don't tell me lies
I want it all
[Repeat]

I don't need fingerprints
So button up your coat
Before you catch your death of cold
Throw away your books
They're building windmills
Three miles up
Out on the moors
There's an empire waiting

[Chorus]
Look at me now
I can take on the world and win
Look at me now
Towny go home

Whispers in the Tower of Babel
But I have all I need
I have shoes with sharpened soles
And every simple joy
We make it all so complicated
When all you need to know
Is putting the meat
Around your bones

[Repeat chorus]

Just look at me now
Both feet on the ground
My sights are fixed on the horizon
[Repeat]

 

[fox69]

"Knickers"

"Knickers"



There's a hole in your knickers, dear Calvin
Dear Calvin, there's a hole in your knickers, a hole
Now let's see what happens with Ba-ba-black sheep
Ba-ba-black sheep, have you any wool?
Dramatic!

 

[fox69]

"Ladies For Compassionate Lynching"

"Ladies For Compassionate Lynching"



We're the ladies for compassionate lynching
We fight for all the things we believe
We spend all of our time on your talk shows
We put the stickers on your record sleeves