Vengeance - The Independent Story

Bittersweet

Once upon a time it was easy
Everything kind of fell into place
Now this feeling won't leave me
We lost the power and we lost the pace
It's staring straight between the eyes
Something isn't right
The harder we try the more we realise
Something isn't right

Ch:
So bittersweet, this whole thing
So bitter sweet

Caught in this struggle for power
Where only blood ever tastes sweet
Everything else is so sour
The numbing failures and defeats
The loner's not a western hero
With nerves of steel and heart of gold
But here alone in the disco
Icy cold

But there's always another morning
We're never dead till the last breath

Betcha

We know we can hurt each other real bad
You know my weak spots, I know yours
How come we egg each other on and on
Like battered boxers staying the course

How come we never ever come to blows
When we want to break each other's necks
How come we stab each other with these words
When all we really want is sex

Why can't we talk it out
Why can't we fight it out
Why can't we kiss and and go to bed

The seething angers burns around the room
The carefully poisoned arrows fly
And in the morning dirty tired hearts
And the scars of battle in our eyes

Tension

Like a desert, so smooth
So calm, like velvet
Like wire, so taut
So stretched, like steel
The surface is rippling
And straining and cracking
From within

Like a bomb just ticking
And waiting like hours
And hours keep folding
And winding and stretching
And deep down inside
The foundations are tearing apart
And the holes are all gaping
Swallowing everything
Please take me out of this dream
Tension

Nightmares like circles
Of lies all hidden
Seething and smouldering
Under the covers
No fire, no passion
But uneasy silence
And peace
In terror I'm waiting
For the one great explosion
Please take me out of this dream
Tension

Great Expectations

When I was young I dreamed and dreamed
About all the things that I was going to be
A brave explorer holding court
Or a really famous astronaut
A handsome pop star on the screen
Or captain of the England team
They said "Son, it could all be yours
You just work hard and pay your dues
Don't be content with what you've got
There's always more that you can want
Everybody's on the make
That's what made this country great"

Ch:
So all I wanted in the end
Was world domination and a whole lot of money to spend
A little place to call my home
Like a planet that was all my own
Well that's not much to ask, it's really not
It's not much to ask, just the same as anybody else

So welcome to the free for all
The smash and grab, the freeloaders ball
Where everything is here for us
If we scream, shout, make a fuss
There's nothing that we can't afford
With a poisoned tongue and a sharpened sword
Spoilt children in a row
No- one dares to tell them "No"

Ch:
So all I wanted in the end
Was world domination and a whole lot of money to spend
Everything I touch, everything I see
Fame and fortune, immortality
Well that's not much to ask, it's really not
It's not much to ask, just the same as everybody else

So in every heart there's a broken dream
A shattered cause, a might have been
In every eye there's a secret tear
In every heart there's a secret fear
That this is it, done, complete
Resign yourself to your defeat
The bitterness behind the show
That's where spoilt children go

Waiting

There's absolutely nothing on my mind
The television flickers in my eyes
Waiting, always waiting

Down in the bus station doing time
We watch the world go passing by
Waiting, always waiting

It's all on tomorrow
Don't worry today
Another year over
But it's all okay

They told us of the second coming so we look to the sky
It's not a saviour we want, just someone to crucify
Waiting, always waiting
But nothing happens, nothing ever happens

Christian Militia

There's a witch hunt coming
Screaming out on it's rebirth
There's a crusade coming
Hellfires back here on earth
See the light in their eyes shine
Listen to their words like swords
The Christian militia is marching now

There's a witch hunt coming
Born from all those American fears
There's a new purge coming
An inquisition for all of us here
Hold onto your sanity as best you can
While some Hitler claims to speak for the Son of Man
The Christian militia is marching now

Hatred makes the adrenalin flow
Stir up the fire watch it grow
Everybody loves a righteous cause
Old lives forgotten in holy wars
Everything forgotten in holy wars
There's a nightmare coming
Shut up your doors close your mind

There's a nightmare coming
Born again, born again blind
The girls show the way, then show their legs
With American showbiz razmatazz
With sex in one hand and a gun in the other
Christ returns

The right-wing respectable clampdown clan
Find their figure head in a holy man
Here come the Christians an hysterical mob
Worshipping the Devil in the name of God
Worshipping the Devil in the name of God

Notice Me

I'll take any drug in the whole damn world
If you'll only notice me
Mainline poisons by the score
Please will you notice me
I'll break any law, hurt anybody
For God's sake notice me
Cut my wrists and slash my face
For Christ's sake notice me

I'll drink anybody into the ground
If you'll only notice me
I'll kick the teeth out of anyone here
Come on and notice me
I'll wear the clothes and cut my hair
Please will you notice me
I'll be a pop star and I'll stand on stage
For God's sake notice me

Ch:
Whoever told him that it mattered
Who told him that anyone cared
He's got an overgrown sense of his own importance
No-one's really bothered around here
He was such a quiet boy
Never any trouble before, never any trouble before

I'll get a big car and drive like a maniac
Please notice me
I'll make a lot of money and tread on you
If you'll only notice me
I'll tell you any lies you want to hear
For God's sake notice me
I'll kill myself while you are watching
For Christ's sake notice me

Smalltown England

Turn left at the lights about 50 yards down
There's a pub in the corner and I'll meet you inside
At quarter to eight and we'll go into town
And find out what everybody's been saying
About us

Smalltown walls have eyes and ears
Stories fly thick and fast round here
Truth and lies are all the same
Whatever you do don't rock the boat
You've got to play the game, play the game

Ch:
Is it a crime to want something else
Is it a crime to believe in something different
Is it a crime to want to make things happen
To spit in the faces of the cynical fools

The incrowd know that the shell is thin
They all protect the cage they're in
Get drunk and stoned and wrecked again
No tears of rage, no cries of pain
Nothing ventured, nothing gained
In smalltown England

The world outside the pint in hand
Is all so hard to understand
And if visions of the world come clear
They're not allowed to interfere

Ch

The smell of hot food from the takeaway curry
Diesel fumes from a passing lorry
Waiting in the queue in the pouring rain
For the chip shop up on Bowling Land
Well last week we all got really smashed
We couldn't stand up, it was a real laugh
And this week's going to be just the same
And the next and the next, again and again
They say you've got to have fun while you're young
'Cos they can't believe there's anything else except this

A Liberal Education

Take away our history
Take away our heroes
Take away our values
And leave us here with nothing
We were in the garden of Eden
Just as children mess around
We only leant against the tree
And the apple came tumbling down

You gave us what we asked for
But never what we wanted
We were only children
How could you have been so stupid
We went up to the steel walls
That guard the sacred town
We only whispered to ourselves
And the walls came tumbling down

We didn't want a victory
We just wanted to fight
But you wouldn't fight
You just gave in
You went and spoiled every game
You broke an everlasting chain
And nobody respects you for your weakness

Take away our idols
Take away our faith
Take away our hatred
And put us in this vacuum
Then say be yourself, please yourself
Express yourself some more
It's your right to do what you like
'Cos we can't really be bothered with you at all

We didn't want a victory
We just wanted to fight
But you wouldn't fight
You said it isn't nice to fight
You went and spoiled every game
You broke an everlasting chain
And nobody respects you for your weakness

Vengeance

Escaped the net in '45
Hiding out in South America
Protected by money and powerful friends
Hoping the world has forgotten by now
All the things that you did in the Nazi Death camps
The thousands you tortured and killed
You can live you life in expectant fear
Until the day when you're made to pay

Ch:
I believe in justice
I believe in vengeance
I believe in getting the bastard
Getting the bastard, getting the bastard

Man walks over dressed in flashy clothes
With an empty heart and a head full of money
Puts his arm around the lad of fifteen years
Talks sort of close like a long-lost brother
"It's really cool, all the pop stars do
If you don't try a little you'd really be a fool
Tell you what I'll do, I'll make the first one free
And when you want some more just come back to me"


Ch

Top-dog fascist gets the boys in the corner
Plants poison where there was just confusion
Walks away scot-free and laughing
Rides on the tide as the cancer grows
And the business man on corruption charges
With millions of dollars in dirty money
Gets a thousand pound fine after months in court
While the lawyers get fat and the law gets bought

Ch

Sex (The Black Angel)

Look at my eyes - you know what it is
I want you, I want you
The way your body moves beneath that dress
And all the nights I've spent away alone in sleeplessness

It's a hunger that we can fill
Racing, racing
And every nerve tingles with it
I want you, I want you

You know the way that I can make you feel
Of all the faces in the crowd, there's only you

Pull down your hair a little
Open up your mouth a little
You're beautiful, you're the best

This feeling that you know oh so well
Your oldest friend from the fires, the fires of hell
And I want you now
Driving down
Driving down
Into the fires

Every stretch and move is like a dream
Eating, biting, scratching
And all there is, is these racing pulses
And the breathing

Forget all the lies that they gave to you
Believe in this 'cos how could this feeling not be true
Driving down
Driving down
And I want you now . . . now . . .

Running in the Rain

So many words are spoken
Round and round and round and round
So many confidences broken
In this town
Too many cigarettes
I don't want to feel like this anymore
I go running in the rain

The television programmes
Go round and round and round and round
Oh God, I wish you were
Still here
Oh yes, I'm sorry for what I said
I love you, but I still wish you were dead
Now I'm running in the rain

So much time for thinking
Round and round and round and round
The boys all go drinking
Just to shut it out
Out here in the water, the wind
You know that you're alive
Running in the rain

Spirit of the Falklands

The natives are restless tonight, sir
Cooped up on estates with no hope in sight
They need some kind of distraction
We can give them that
And they'd kill if they only had something to kill for
They'd die if they only had something to die for
They'd cheer if they only had something to cheer for
We can give them that
So it's off to war we go (I couldn't believe it)
Bring out all the flags (I never believed it)
Fight the good fight

Sir, it's working like a dream
Half the nation are hooked on the bait
Waiting for the next victorious installment
We can give them that
'Cos it's no surprise that young men are heroes
It's no surprise that young men are strong
It's no surprise that young men are foolish
We've known that all along
Exciting pictures on News at Ten (I couldn't believe it)
Read all the crap on all the front pages (I never believed it)
Fight the good fight

Ch:
Dead men in the South Atlantic
It's meant to warm our hearts
They think that they died for you and me
Oh God, what a farce, what a farce

And now it's the repeats
Plugging the Falklands and the Falklands' spirit
Show the pictures again and again
Till the next war comes around
'Cos we'll kill if we only have something to kill for
We'll die if we only have something to die for
We'll cheer if we only have something to cheer for
That is worthy of the name
Oh yes the next war (I never believed it)
See the propaganda in TV fiction (I never believed it)
Enemies with horns and tails

Ch:
Dead men in the South Atlantic
It's meant to warm our hearts
To think they died for you and me
Oh God, what a farce
There's crippled men back home in England
Doesn't it warm your hearts
They think they fought for peace and freedom
Poor boys, what a farce, what a farce

The Price

Splashing through the water on the motorway
The headlights shine every drop of rain
And every mile takes a minute and every minute lasts an hour
And there's so many miles till I'm home again

And staring through the gathering mists on the window
I see that paying prices came so soon
And I swear that those eyes cut deeper into me
Than they've ever cut into you

Ch:
And still the fires won't go out
That no power of the mind can drive away
And still all I ever see are your eyes calling
And the sadness and the hatred and the love and the pain

Everybody knows this aching like an old friend
And everybody feels it the same
But I'm out here in this desperate night in the middle of nowhere
Driving faster, faster through the rain

Ch:
And still the fires won't go out
And still I wish I was home
And still all I ever see are your eyes calling
And still I love you with my whole soul

Am I trying to raise a toast when the glass is already empty
Am I paying the price now the wasted years are through
I swear that those eyes cut deeper into me
Than they'll ever cut into you

1984

The vans they come in convoys now
Stealing through the dawn
Silent in the countryside
In the hills up to the north
There's road blocks on the Meden bridge
There's click click clicking on the phone
They're sealing off our villages
Sealing off our homes

Her father crossed the battle lines
In the first months of the war
She frowns down at the soup kitchen
She doesn't have a father anymore
It's cold in the early mornings
Standing with your mates
Staring at the thick blue line
Armed and ready at the gates

This ain't some tinpot story arriving from a distant shore
But our own sweet green and pleasant land in 1984

The servants of our great nation
Have lied in the name of us all
While the officers of peace and order
Are busy breaking every law
There's hundreds on trumped-up charges
Hundreds on the streets
The future of our villages
Sown with bitter seeds

And hatred starts to rumble where there was no hate before
In our own sweet green and pleasant land in 1984

Nobody wanted to see the blood
As the blue lights flash through in the night
But all the words fell on deaf ears
And now the blind frustration bites

Two nations under one crown divided more and more
In our own sweet green and pleasant land in 1984

No Man's Land

You say that you'd rather be really poor
Than scratching, saving, scrimping all the pennies
Looking in the windows at what you can't afford
Always hungry, never starving

Ch:

In no man's land the days are long

You say that you'd rather be really ill
Than just having headaches, never have no energy
All the little allergies and all the little pains
Never getting better, never getting worse

Ch

You say that you'd rather have no love at all
Than pathetic little words, half-hearted kisses
Never feeling anything, anything at all
Never no fire, never no passion

Ch

Do you believe you can come out
Fighting from you shellhole
Or do you run for cover every time
You hear a shot is fired in anger