No Rest for the Wicked

Frightened

It's all out on the streets today
But you, you've found a place to hide
Too busy with the ratrace
You pass by on the other side
Your's is the face of the brand new Britain
With blinkers on your eyes
Find yourself position
And cling on for dear life
You're so frightened
Everybody's so frightened
The papers tell of rape and murder
Everything that you want to hear
Bad tidings on the radio
You find a way to name your fear
So you never pick up hitchhikers
Never talk to strangers
Believe the world outside your
Bolted door is evil
You're so frightened
Everybody's so frightened.
You are just a victim of your own bad dreams
While people are the same as we've always been
But through the blindness in your eyes
For just one minute I see them shine
- Love me . . won't you love me
and they all turn away
You never fight for anything
You always turn your face away
And you never get involved in trouble
Let all evil have it's way
So as the girl screams in the street below
You turn up the television
Perhaps you'll see it on the news
Well it's nothing to do with you
You're too frightened
Everybody's so frightened
Why is everybody so frightened

Ambition

Stepping out onto the stage
The smalltown star tonight
Flexes out for fame and fortune
Into the lights
The way she tears into the heart
Makes me realise
That I never understood hatred
Until I looked into those eyes - she cries
No one's going to talk down to me again
No one's ever going to patronise me again
I'm going to get out of this town
Steal myself a crown
I'm going to get myself some power
If it's the last thing that I do

Heading out of Bradford
With a ticket on the train
And a faith as hard as steel
Sharp as any pain
Gets pictures in the papers
Smiling oh so good
While she lies in bed with racing dreams
Hot as blood
Cos love will make you happy
And love will keep you warm
And love will build a cushion
To keep you safe from harm
But hate will drive you onwards
Hate will drive you upwards
Till you can get back all the bastards
Who ever tried to put you down

And when she's gone forever
Please don't lay her down to rest
In a quiet little churchyard
Along with all the rest
Throw a great big party
To remember that she lived
Give her headlines on the TV
To remember who she is
Cos no one's ever going to talk
Down to her again
No one's ever going to patronise her again
She's going to get out of this town
Steal herself a crown
She's going to get herself some power
If it's the last thing that she does
If it's the one thing that she does
If it's the only thing that she ever does

Grandmother's Footsteps

Come with me my little innocents
There's a game that we can play
See how much we can change your world
While you look the other way
Turn around as if to see
If you can catch us cheat
And all you'll find are shining presents
Laid down at your feet . . .
Take the bait . . .

Television is flash and Coke is nice
And you can have the rest
Dream those dreams you've always had
Of wealth and power and sex
We'll run your mines, your factories
And we'll take our little toll
And you can have these missiles too
While we maintain control

Ch:
Creeping, creeping footsteps around the world
While they promise us
Everything we've ever wanted

Hush now, don't you cry
Don't you realize your crime . .

Like lambs go to the slaughterhouse
We know our rights from wrongs
But we go down to the shopping mall
With 30 silver coins
And somewhere out in South America
Where the forests lie in ruin
They shout - we'd better get these natives some clothes
Because their videos are coming in soon . .

Better Than Them

This is our town, this is Friday night
Dressed in our rags and our rage and our best
Piercing eyes looking for something
Anything, anyone . . .
Stare across the floor as they begin to dance
Missing all the rhythms and the chosen right steps
And we laugh and we drink in our corner again
We're better than them . . .

Divided we were born, divided we live
Divided we fall, divided we die
Still we tell ourselves over and over again
We're better than them . . .

Ch:
With our hunger and our hatred
We all walk this town
With our fear and our weakness
Just holding on
With our doubt and our emptiness
And this cold, cold frown
We've got to be so important
We'll put the whole damn world down

And we build the walls that we can hide behind
And our finest weapon is our poisoned pride
Here in this town where the jealousies burn
We're watching you . . .

And truth is only what we need it to be
To bring us survival through each and every day
When nowhere is safe and nowhere is home
Just be cool . . .
And what was she wearing and what did he say
Who goes with who and what did they do?
We tell ourselves over and over again
We're better than them . . .

My Country

Tell all the people who believe what they read in the press
Tell all the folk who stare from behind suburban walls
The enemy is not some nation far across the sea
The enemy is with us every single breathing day

Ch:
So yes, I will fight for my country
The land that I love so well
Yes - for justice
A land fit for all our futures
Yes, I will fight for my country
The land that I love so well
Hear the voices
Of our history echo all around

Fight all the ones who divide us rich against poor
Fight all the ones who divide us white against black
Fight all the ones who want their missiles in our earth
Fight all the powers who would lead us into war

No rights were ever given to us by the grace of God
No rights were ever given by some United Nations clause
No rights were ever given by some nice guy at the top
Our rights they were bought by all the blood
And all the tears of all our
Grandmothers, grandfathers before

For all the folk who gave their lives for us
For all the folk who spit out - never say die
For all the fires burning on our highest hills
For all the people spinning tales tonight
Fight all the powers who would abuse our Common Laws
Fight all the powers who think they only owe themselves . . .

No Greater Love

There's storm clouds amassing over in the west
Up above the moor
The city shines in grey, mills closing down
On the valley floor
All you can do here is survive
Grit your teeth and just stay alive
And never understand

The young ones they dance with fire in
their hearts till the years go by
And older, defeated they stare in their
beer at closing time
No greater love could there ever be
Than what I feel for you
- What you gave to me
You saved my life from this . .

While kings are in their counting houses
People just wait here in silent rows
They spat and they jeered in a last
desperate fear as they watched us go
Remember how we turned and ran
Heads into the wind running hand in hand
We laughed until we cried . . .
So many tears . . .

No Rest

Ch:
4 o'clock in the morning
And still we cannot sleep
Turning over turning round
Twisting in our sweat
They say there is no rest for the wicked ones
Dear God what have we done
There is no rest for the wicked ones
Dear God what is this evil that we've done

Is it that we wanted more than you gave
Why did you put us then in this smalltown grave
Humility - is that what you want
Why did you make us then the way you did
Yes we have pride - is this our sin?

Is it the times that we've been out fighting
Well I'll tell you all those times - we never really hurt anybody
Or is it that we were eating
While other people were starving
Is this our crime?

Is it the times we laughed about it all
Through all those whisky nights so far away
Yes we betrayed you - is this our crime?

Young, Gifted and Skint

Young, gifted and skint -
That's where it int . .
Look how easily it happened
Look how easily I fell
Now I'm up to here in debt
There's a noose around my neck
There's a price upon my head
My past was all in borrowed time
Stupid stupid borrowed time
Now that the deed is done
I'm waiting for the axe to fall
Fantasies grow in my brain
Run away and start again
Disappear and change my name
Money makes the world go round
Fear makes it turn much faster
Can't pay the rentman a single thing
Don't let the man from the Gas Board in
Maybe this is all a dream
Maybe i'll wake up again
Maybe this could all be clean

Drag it Down

They started work this morning
Down at city square
They're pulling down the statues
Of our great grandfather's hero
The new books said he wasn't such a great man after all
And anyway remember that the times they are a-changing

Ch:
Pull it down, drag it down
Till there's nothing to look up to
But the brand names on the posters all around

They proved on television last night
God was just a lie
He never made the world at all
It was just some sweet old fashioned rite
So melt down all the ornaments
Move out all the graves
And let us build the disco that we need for our young 'braves'

Ch:
Pull it down, drag it down
Till the hopes and dreams of all the ages
Past are shattered on the ground

We think we are so clever killing heroes, killing magic -
till everything that's sacred is brought down to our level -
for Mammon is a jealous master - leaves no room for any other
All the questions left unanswered
All the answers gone forever
So bow to the woman in the finest fur
Bow to the man with the ace street cool
Bow to the woman with all the power
Bow to the man with all the money
In whose sight are we equal now?
Now that we've killed God

Shot 18

Thou shalt not kill - remember that?
You learnt it again and again when you were young
They said weapons have this safety catch
Your moral conscience tells you kid what's right, what's wrong
Well they make out like they're so surprised
But it's easy when you're civilised
Count to ten, close your eyes
The way it's always been . . Shot 18

I think I was a bit surprised
I never knew I was so anaesthetised
And triggers pull so lightly
And people die so easy - I never realized
Well I believe in common laws
I believe in even scores
I understand the rules of war
The way the slate is cleaned . . Shot 18

Who wants another Christian martyr
Who wants someone else's pain
Who wants the world on their shoulder
Who wants to have to cry in vain
Who wants to have an open sore
Eating away deep inside you
Who wants to torture themselves
When there's plenty eager to do it for you

Well years might heal all the scars
But I don't know if you feel like you have that time
And if I was the man that killed your father
And if I said I'm sorry would that change your mind
Well noone should be so surprised
That words don't pay for victims' lives
It's teeth for teeth, eyes for eyes
The way it's always been . . Shot 18

The Attack

Now the talking's over
Plans are laid and the hour is set
Glances round the table
Eyes all shining, dark and bright
We meet again at daybreak
For the day that will be ours
We're tomorrow's history
So just check your weapons, say your prayers

Now the evening's over
Voices muffled in the cold night mist
We leave the house together
Home to rest up in the last few hours
Heads against the pillows
With eyes that will not close
Of all the dreams that we've ever had
This is the one

Now the night is over
Dawn cracks open like a breaking shel
Now the waiting's over
As we walk in silence through the empty streets

We meet beneath the tower
Greetings empty like the taste inside
Turn towards the valley
And the day that has waited for us all our lives
Even in this age of concrete
Even in this age of reason
There comes a time when you put your life
Into the hands of the gods . . .