The Kinks

[fox69]

"Scrapheap City"

"Scrapheap City"



There ain't no beauty
And there ain't no style,
There's no quality
And there's no purity.
Honour's dead and buried
Because it's unnecessary.

Look at all the people,
Why they all look the same.
They're walking to the factory
In their cloth caps and trilbies.
They've got no style,
Ain't it a pity.

They're tearing old quality down
Without any pity,
Now they're coming to take me away
To Scrapheap City.
They say that good manners belong on a heap,
They say they're outdated and they're obsolete,
And now they're coming to take me away
To Scrapheap City.

There's no quality
And there ain't no style
Just miles and miles
Of Scrapheap piles.
There's no quality
And there's no purity.
They're digging up all of the flowers
Because they look pretty
And erecting identical concrete monstrosities.
They're killing off all of the animals too,
The only ones left are the ones in the zoo.
Now they're coming to take me away
To Scrapheap City.
Ain't it a pity,
Scrapheap City.

 

[fox69]

"Scum Of The Earth"

"Scum Of The Earth"


[Sung by Flash, Spivs & Floosies.]

[Flash:]
They call me the scum of the earth.
They say I'm the scab of the nation.
But deep inside I'm only human.
Just an ordinary man.
With ordinary plans.
They say I'm crooked and bent,
They call me a rogue and a villain,
But if they could see deep inside me
They'd see a heart that once was pure
Before it touched the evils of this world,
For if I cut myself I bleed
And if I catch a cold I sneeze.
Have I not eyes to help me see?
Have I not lungs to help me breathe?
Have I not hands, organs, senses
And affections just like you?
Stop the music.
Well ain't I human
Like everybody else?
Before you condemn me my friends,
I suggest that you look deep inside you
For good and evil
Exist in all of us,
And no man is a saint
And each creates his heaven and his hell.

[Chorus:]
We know that he's only a man.
He's got feelings and faults
Just like everyone else.

[Flash:]
So don't put me down because I've done well,
For even wide boys, hoods and spivs
Have got the right to live.

[Chorus]:
We know we're the scum of the earth,
We know we're the scab of the nation,
But we're your enemies and your brothers
And no man is a saint
And deep down we're all the same as one another.

 

[fox69]

"Second-Hand Car Spiv"

"Second-Hand Car Spiv"


[Sung by Spiv, Flash & Floosies]

Spiv: I was born a slum gutter infantile,
Brute-force educated, delinquent juvenile.
I am a product of mass produced factory fodder,
Streets full of tenement blocks, rat infested filth and squalor.
I left school, went straight on the dole
And unemployment's no enjoyment,
Welfare State owned my mind and my body and my soul.
So I worked my way up to be a second-hand car spiv,
But don't judge me harshly because I'm just a slum kid.
I built up my business with a quick wit and fist,
So don't double-cross me or my hoods will dissect you
With their black jacks and shiv.
Slum kids never get a break, they've got to fight their way up.
Wheel and deal, beg and steal,
Sweat blood to earn a buck.
I didn't want to work on the factory floor,
I wasn't content, I wanted more
Than to be a slave of a lathe,
Work all day and go home bored.
So a second- hand car spiv was what I became.
I built an empire because I used my brains.

[Chorus:] He was a second-hand car spiv up from the slums,
So don't judge him harshly because he's just a slum kid.
Then he moved into property, stocks and shares,

Spiv: And into high finance and you've got to agree
That running a multi-million corporation
Sure beats selling cars second-hand.

[Chorus:] Once he sold old worn out heaps to the punters on the street,

Spiv: Now I'm in control of the country as a whole,
And the world is at my feet.

[Chorus:] The world is at his feet.

Spiv: Power, power, I've got power oozing out of me,
And when you think of all the things I've done
It says a lot for one
Who worked his way up from the streets.
Yes I'm a second-hand car spiv.
Do a deal, buy and sell,
It's my trade, I know it well.
Make a sale, ring the bell
And let the suckers go to hell.
Bank the profits, count the change
Another sucker comes your way.
Life is a crooked game,
And slum kids never change.

 

[fox69]

"See My Friends"

"See My Friends"



See my friends,
See my friends,
Layin' 'cross the river,

See my friends,
See my friends,
Layin' 'cross the river,

She is gone,
She is gone and now there's no one left
'Cept my friends,
Layin' 'cross the river,

She just went,
She just went,
Went across the river.

Now she's gone,
Now she's gone,
Wish that I'd gone with her.

She is gone,
She is gone and now there's no one left
'Cept my friends,
Layin' 'cross the river,

She is gone and now there's no one else to take her place
She is gone and now there's no one else to love
'Cept my friends,
Layin' 'cross the river,

See my friends,
See my friends,
Layin' 'cross the river,

See my friends,
See my friends,
Layin' 'cross the river,

 

[fox69]

"Session Man"

"Session Man"


He never will forget at all
The day he played at the Albert Hall.
A million sessions ago it seems.
He is a session man,
A chord progression,
A top musician.

Rock 'n' roll or vocal star[?],
A philharmonic orchestra,
Everything comes the same to him.
He is a session man,
A chord progression,
A top musician.

He's not paid to think, just play,
A session man
A session man
A session man
Playing at a different studio every day.

He reads the dots and plays each line,
And always finishes on time.
No overtime nor favors done.
He is a session man,
A chord progression,
A top musician.

He's not paid to think, just play,
A session man
A session man
A session man

 

[fox69]

"Set Me Free"

"Set Me Free"



Set me free, little girl.
All you gotta do is set me free, little girl.
You know you can do it if you try,
All you gotta do is set me free, free,
Free.

Set me free, little girl.
All you gotta do is set me free, little girl.
You know you can do it if you try,
All you gotta do is set me free, free,
Free, free.

I don't want no one,
If I can't have you to myself.
I don't need nobody else.
So if I can't have you to myself,

Set me free.
Set me free.

Oh set me free, little girl.
All you gotta do is set me free, little girl.
You know you can do it if you try,
All you gotta do is set me free, free,
Free, free.

I don't want no one,
If I can't have you to myself.
I don't need nobody else.
So if I can't have you to myself,

Set me free.
Set me free.

Oh set me free, little girl.
All you gotta do is set me free, little girl.
You know you can do it if you try,
All you gotta do is set me free, free,
Free.

Set me free,
Oh, set me free.

 

[fox69]

"Shangri-La"

"Shangri-La"



Now that you've found your paradise
This is your Kingdom to command
You can go outside and polish your car
Or sit by the fire in your Shangri-la
Here is your reward for working so hard
Gone are the lavatories in the back yard
Gone are the days when you dreamed of that car
You just want to sit in your Shangri-la

Put on your slippers and sit by the fire
You've reached your top and you just can't get any higher
You're in your place and you know where you are
In your Shangri-la
Sit back in your old rocking chair
You need not worry, you need not care
You can't go anywhere
Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la

The little man who gets the train
Got a mortgage hanging over his head
But he's too scared to complain
'Cos he's conditioned that way
Time goes by and he pays off his debts
Got a TV set and a radio
For seven shillings a week
Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la

And all the houses in the street have got a name
'Cos all the houses in the street they look the same
Same chimney pots, same little cars, same window panes
The neighbors call to tell you things that you should know
They say their lines, they drink their tea, and then they go
They tell your business in another Shangri-la
The gas bills and the water rates, and payments on the car
Too scared to think about how insecure you are
Life ain't so happy in your little Shangri-la
Shangri-la, Shangri-la la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

Put on your slippers and sit by the fire
You've reached your top and you just can't get any higher
You're in your place and you know where you are
In your Shangri-la
Sit back in your old rocking chair
You need not worry, you need not care
You can't go anywhere
Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la

 

[fox69]

"She's Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina"

"She's Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina"



She's bought a hat like Princess Marina's
To wear at all her social affairs
She wears it when she's cleaning the windows
She wears it when she's scrubbing the stairs
But you will never see her at Ascot
She can't afford the time or the fare
But she's bought a hat like Princess Marina's
So she don't care

He's bought a hat like Anthony Eden's
Because it makes him feel like a Lord
But he can't afford a Rolls or a Bentley
He has to buy a secondhand Ford
He tries to feed his wife and his family
And buy them clothes and shoes they can wear
But he's bought a hat like Anthony Eden's
So he don t care

Buddy can you spare me a dime
My wife is getting hungry
And the kids are crying
This poverty is hurting my pride
Buddy can you spare me, buddy can you spare me a dime

She's bought a hat like Princess Marina's
And her neighbors think it suits her a treat
But she hasn't any food in the larder
Nor has anybody else in the street
But to look at her you'd think she was wealthy
'Cos she smiles just like a real millionaire
'Cos she's bought a hat like Princess Marina's
So she don't care, she don't care, she don't care, she don't care

 

[fox69]

"She's My Girl"

"She's My Girl"


Never thought that this would happen to you and me[?]
Guess I'll just have to see it through

Every single dress you wear
Never really fits around
A little child with bright brown hair[?]
She always laughs and never really cares

She's My Girl
She's My Girl
She's My Girl
She's My Girl, and I'll meet her all the way

[?] in line she spends her time
A colorful but simple mind
She gets her kicks when [?]
But baby when you ball about it worries me

She's My Girl
She's My Girl
She's My Girl
She's My Girl, and I'll meet her all the way

I never thought that this would happen to you
Guess I'll just have to see it through

She crawls around the floor each night
Staggering but keeping quiet
I've got to have her while I can
[?]

She's My Girl
She's My Girl
She's My Girl
She's My Girl, and I'll meet her all the way

She's My Girl
She's My Girl
She's My Girl
She's My Girl

 

[fox69]

"Shepherds Of The Nation"

"Shepherds Of The Nation"


[Sung by Mr. Black The Do-Gooders]

Down with sex and sin,
Down with pot, heroin.
Down with pornography,
Down with lust.
Down with vice lechery and debauchery.

We are the new centurians.
Shepherds of the Nations.
We'll keep on our guard
For sin and degradation.
We are the national guard
Against filth and depravity,
Perversion and vulgarity,
Homosexuality.
Keep it clean.

Down with nudity,
Breasts that are bare and pubic hair.
We are here to cleanse humanity
From the man in the raincoat's
Pale faced glare.
So sodomites beware.

We are the new centurians,
Shepherds of the Nation.
We'll keep on our guard
For sin and degradation.
We are the national, guard
Against filth and depravity,
Perversion and vulgarity,
Homosexuality.
Keep it clean.

I visualise a day when people will be free
From evils like perversion and pornography.
We'll cast out Satan and we'll set the sinners free,
So people of the nation unite.

Put all the pervs in jail,
Bring back the birch, and the cat of nine tails.
Bring back corporal punishment
Bring back the stocks
And the axeman's block.
Let righteousness prevail.

Down with nudity and hard core magazines.
We'll bring religion back
And keep our country clean.
Keep it clean.

We are the new centurians
Shepherds of the Nation.
We'll keep on our guard
For sin and degradation.
We are the national guard
Against filth and depravity.
Perversion and vulgarity,
Homosexuality.
Keep it clean.