[Instrumental]

Dance 'round the maypole, rappers and mummers
Stepping in and out of time
Cockneys, Brummies, Tykes and Geordies
Players in this pantomime
From Notting Hil to Tyneside Mela
Marching ghosts of colliery bands
Farmers markets, high-tech sweatshops
Such a 'green and pleasant land'

In an english country garden
'Clearing the land... exurban man'
Puddings made with bread and butter
The lash of thewhip and rhyming slang
Speakers corner, Miners Welfare
Images all juxtaposed
With this patchwork panorama
You have to laugh, 'do they mean us?'

Lager louts and laddish culture
St George's cross upon your pate
John Bull on Beau Brummel's waistcoat
Knuckles tatooedLove and Hate
Schizophrenic, new age, new man
Bite your lip don't make a fuss
The malaise of 'the english patient'
You have to ask, 'do they mean us?'

'Oop north', where they 'bath in gravy'
Sarees seen on cobbled streets
Down south it's a top coat warmer
'kiss me quick' on Margate beech
English blood runs mild and bitter
Adam's ale or council pop?
Multi-racial melting pot

Such inherent contradictions
A crisis of identity
Are the smiles all disingenuous?
Quote english eccentricity
From Lands End up to Kielder Water
All 'make believe' and 'just suppose'
Given the 'whole sink and Puddle'
In the end 'do they mean us?'

Wall "the west' wakes up to a terror attack
But they got enough muscle to give it right back
Now the warmongers are happy they know that they can't lose
They picked a good day for to bury the bad news

And all the latest figures talk of rising crime
While offenders are released before they've served their time
But they're happy down in Brussels
They know that we can't choose
They picked a good day for to bury the bad news

We've got a military stand-off
While they can't agree the peace
And political solutions
Are always out of reach

A giant asteroid passed close by last night
Well this one didn't hit us but the next one might
But the scientists are puzzled they're looking for the clues
They picked a good day for to bury the bad news

While all floods and famine
And the cyclone's rage
Of biblical proportions
Can't even make the front page

I said 'Hold on a second, there's a late on the newsflash'
Billions wiped off as the 'high-techs' crash
But the ministers are happy they know that they can't lose
They picked a good day for to bury the bad news

They can't bury the bad news, they can't bury the bad news
They can't bury the bad news, they can't bury the bad news

Where they sit around
And get a round in while the getting's good
They'll make the most until the money's gone
They're coming out to celebrate, to sing and dance and to escape
A crazy world where everything seems wrong
Drinking to forget and to remember all the glory days
The days we stood apart and we stood strong
Though the beer befuddles sense
It can't provide them recompense
They settle for another drinking song

Where the 'busy man finds recreation'
the 'idle man finds business'
The 'melancholy man finds sanctuary'
The 'stranger may have welcome'
and still within these self-same walls
The 'citizen may find some courtesy'
From 'rose and crown' to 'cock and bull'
all history is written there
To folklore, myth and legend we belong
Come Masons, Plumbers Carpenters,
Come Cricketers and huntsmen
All join in another drinking song

Well you can keep your 'long-hours culture'
your lusting for adventure
There's life aplenty down 'The tap 'n' Spile'
Forget your occupation down 'The Salutation'
This tragi-comedy will make you smile
From quaint barstoll philosophy to subtle innuendo
It's funny how the tribes all get along
Curse abstinence and temperance, come celebrate insouciance
And join us in another drinking song

[or A young Mr Polly takes the train]

So we lie and wait for dreaded and demanding down
Come wrest us from our safe and sleepy beds
Over by the windown lie the raiment and the weapons
That we need to take into this world today
Armoured by opinion, with statistic and schoolboy's charm
We take our place amongst the rank and file
Young and proud and free, we are the 'gilded youth'
The chosen 'few'
The vanguard of our generation here

Marching out in the battle, after the glory in this enterprise
Likes pieces on a board, we're pushed around
As cannons roar and missiles fly, into this melee we are thrown
We dearly learn survival has her price
Now profit is a noble cause, we're honourbound to follow on
Believing 'Good' and 'Right' are on our side
Will we be remembered in dispatches or in legends long
Will our story often be retold ?

But dragons slain in PC games
just can't assuage, you anger reigns,
You struggle on in spite of all you learn,
Baffled by their industry and bold commercial wizzardry
The young crusader's beaten by the game
Yet in a quiet shade of evening when I lay me down
And relive all the struggles we have made
A smile creeps cross the lace that bears
the scars of war time can't erase,
I loosen off my grip and fade away
I loosen off my grip and fade away
I loosen off my grip and fade away
I loosen off my grip and fade away
I finally close my eyes and fade away

We're building up to nothing
Can make it last all day
They're handing out the pitchforks
To keep the tide at bay
Through time and tide will never wait
We'll stand our ground and celebrate:

A song of no involvement
A show of no-concern
A song of no involvement
We're far too good to burn

Well indolence is blissful
Employment is the curse
Once bitten makes you work shy
You've gone from bad to worse
The winds of change whatever they they bring
We'll turn our backs and learn to sing:

A song of no involvement
A picture of restraint
A song of no involvement
The world will have to wait

'A sense of within which knoweth sin
And makes you pay with guild each day'
That still small voice inside your head

To those who look for answers
Or seek to rule the roost
Go sign your 'ignoramus'
Cos we're the living proof
Live and let live and learn to forgive
Come Heaven or Hell, we'll join in with:

A song of no-involvement
A testament to sloth
A song of no-involvement
Sounds good upon my oath

A song of no-involvement
This life is such a farce
A song of no involvement
The world can kiss my arse

All the seats are taken in the house that makes the rules
All the seats are taken in 'The parliament of fools'

The discontented winter howeld, when I first came up to vote
They swept in on a sea of change, but I'm glad I missed their boat
As communities were taxed and torn, utilities got floated
And for eighteen years the 'true blue' cause
prevailed and was promoted
How do you cast your vote in a parliament of fools?
How do you cast your vote in a parliament of fools?

How I took me off a college for to learn philosophy
Studied Paine and Machiavellin spin and sophistry
But coming from a county that was redin tooth and claw
For a one-horse-race some lobby-fodder-donkey
was brought forth
How do you cast your vote in a parliament of fools?
How do you cast your vote in a parliament of fools?

All the seats are taken in the house that makes the rules
All the seats are taken in 'The parliament of fools'

Armed with this liberal knowledge, I set off to London town
To see 'the seat of wisdom' and hear justice handed down
Not 'a semblance of normality', an assembly of insanity
I'll not become a member of of this parliament most foul
How do you cast your vote in a parliament of fools?
How do you cast your vote in a parliament of fools?
Yes, all the seats are taken and our confidence is shaken
How do you cast your vote in a parliament of fools?

'One united kingdom the fancied wouldn't do
To please some grumbling Irishme, they split it into two
Two little kingdoms, but then the Scots, you see
Claimed their ancient throne and rights, then they were three
Three little kingdoms but then one more
For Welshman claimed a parliament and then they were four
Four little kingdoms wouldn't do at all!
One of them was far too big; the others were too small'

And this is the price we'll pay
Take a lesson from your history
'Divide and conquer is the game they play'
And this is the price we'll pay

'All across Great Britain ancient hates revived
Cornwall wants to rule herself, and then they were five
Five little kingdoms, but London is a fix
Raised the 'southern english' flag, and then they were six
Six little kingdoms, the 'Home rule' heaven
Caused a rising in the West, and then they were seven
Seven little kingdoms Northmen wouldn't wait
Hailed Northumbria and then they were eight'

And this is the price we'll pay
Take a lesson from your history
'A house divided simply cannot stand'
And this is the price we'll pay

'And the towns that one may visit via the Eastern county line
Formed East Anglia and then they were nine
Nine little kingdoms never could agree
How to work together and so they went free
Ten little kingdoms too weak to stand alone
A foreign nation conquered them, then they were gone'

And this is the price we'll pay
Take a lesson from your history
'Devolution is the devil's ploy'
And this is the price we'll pay

Like the promise of a grey day dawning
Like all the dreams I've never had
Like I'm working as the beast of burden
Just like Sisyphus I know where I stand

Like I need another rude awakening
With all your caterwauling in my ears
Like I know where all the money comes from
Just like the man said 'Here my dear'

Like I need another cute Demelza
Like I need to be a gentlemen
Like I need another sweet Lolita
Like I need another Jezebel

'Love is the flame of burning brandy'
I take a drink from your poisoned cup
Like I need another Mata Hari
Like I need to see those eyes close-up

Like I need another 'brief encounter'
Like I need another fresh start
Like I understand your indignation
Like you care about my wounded heart

Like I need another misadventure
Like I need another dead-end trail
Like I need another misdirection
Like I need another fairy-tale

Like I bring a plague on all your houses
Just like I'm Herode or 'the king of Misrule'
Like I need another stark reminder
Like I'm Jonah or The April Fool

Like I need to make another swan-song
Like I need another 'sordid boon'
Like I need another born-again virgin
Cut my heart out with a wooden spoon

Like a ballad for the disenchanted
Like a sonnet for a long-lost friend
Like a requiem played on my heartstrings
Like you're the last word and this is the end

Now 'Man is born to trouble
Sure as sparks to Heaven fly.'
So said the man sat all alone
In the corner of my eye.
I said, 'Why the long face, why so sad?
Things cannot be so bad!'
He said, 'My aching bones tell of trouble on the road
And you can't make light of this load.'
He said, 'You can't make light of this load.'

Now just don't get me started on work, trust or money,
There are not enough hours in the day.
In a land where nothing works except the answering machines
You have to watch what you say.
All the high hopes of the Thatcher's breed
Lie crushed beneath some eighties creed.
Well 'Moaning Minnies' we may be just don't let us explode,
You can't make light of this load.'
They say, 'You can't make light of this load.'

Seems that grumbling is a privilege, a pleasure and a pastime
For those approaching 'middle rage.'
'The burden fits the back' they say, and I know I've got mine,
Thank heavens for the minimum wage!
'Things can only get better' they cried,
But over health and work and money they lied.
Well their patron saint is Meldew and complaining is the mode.
You can't make light of this load.
They say, 'You can't make light of this load.'

'Oh don't the days seem lank and long
When all goes right and none goes wrong.'
So avoid the sad old so-and-so with his sorry episode,
Who can't make light of his load, lads!
Who can't make light of his load.

Hey Mr Auden have you hear the news?
Seems they found a cure for your Roman Wall Blues
Says on the tablets that they sent back home
They got dates, wine and olives direct from Rome

They got baths and medicines I've been told
To cure your lice and care for your cold
And if your eyes are sore for the rain or mist
You can always sign up to the old sick list

Downtown Corbridge on Saturday night
Find a local lassie to treat you right

So hey, Mr Auden let me put you straight
Did a little diggin' bring you up to date
Well a backwater it may be
But you got to brush on that history

You think you come so far?
You think you learnt along the way?
You're better off by far
Than where you were jus' yesterday
You say you got your scars
There's nothing left to say

You got to look beyond
Go make some ripples on your pond
We are the things we sing
All wrapped up with bows and strings
You think you're everything?
Accept the sense of substance over style

And take away the hype
Take away the sad affairs
Listen to your lies
Can't you see it now there's no-one there?

We are the things we choose
Come walk a mile in this man's shoes
And if you're still confused
Go learn to sing some hybrid blues
What have you got to lose
Except your sense of ignorance and pride?

And take away the hype
Take away the sad affairs
Listen to your lies
Can't you see it now there's no-one there?

I can't tell you anymore
I can't tell you what to think or say
Take away the hard lines
Can't you see it any other way?

But I still don't hear this 'inherent cry'
From 'Dear old Stockholm' to the 'My-O-My'
Make it, lose it, make it, lose it

I still don't hear that plaintive call
From the sacred mountains to the 'wailing wall'
Faithless, shameless, faceless, hopeless

Now I loved me a woman, don't mean a thing
I loved me a woman, gave her everything
'I got stones in my passway and I railed at the moon
There's a light at your doorway, guess who spoke too soon?
Singing, 'take me, use me, love me'

But I still don't hear that primal scream
Of a rich man nightmare or a poor boy's dream
Have i lived too long ? Have I lived at all ?
If life's a journey, catch me when I fall

And you're lying there like 'the bride stripped bare'
In the virtual madness, in my my dark despair
Singing, 'Hurt me, hate me, hear me, help me'

Is this hybrid offspring just a high-class where
O a pale young virgin and wild old boar?
Pointless, tasteless, thoughtless

[Instrumental]