1. |
Crisis
05:41
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A dying empire in a state of collapse
Now we see how deeply we’ve been trapped
Everybody’s gotta share in this crisis
and now’s the time to fight for something better than this
Spending our lives in the house of credit cards
Rush to the sales when times get hard
Drawn by empty promises and driven by excess
We let them lead us into this mess
Crippling debt and homes under threat
The vultures circling for all they can get
With so many ways to make us pay
We’re past the worst of it so they say
Race you to the bottom, feel the cutbacks
While the super rich are busy evading tax
And for greedy bankers who direct the fraud
It’s bonus city and huge rewards
for them the system never failed
Blank cheque how quickly they got bailed
With our money of course this is nothing new
We’ve always slaved for the greed of the few
We’re breaking ranks, death to the banks, in anarchy we trust
Let’s turn off this show, it’s all got to go, BOOM AND BUST
Talking heads line up to give their views
Expert opinions to keep us confused
Lots of advice on how how we can cope
Chat shows and adverts selling hope
With recession beating useful tips
They loan us a paddle on a sinking ship
Please don’t panic rescue will come
If we just let them do the sums
The important bit is that we wait
For the leaders of the market and the state
Only they have the power to restructure our lives
With some expertly wielded corporate knives
But we’ve past the point of no return
They’re fiddling figures while the empire burns
Their solution is more of the same
It’s time we changed the rules of the game
Look around you how much more proof
Do people need to face the truth
None of this can be rearranged
Let’s turn their crisis into real change
The bosses’ will feel real executive stress
when we take it all back and repossess
Our time our future our land our homes and start living lives we can all our own
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2. |
T.W.A.T.
03:59
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The whole world stopped to watch the towers fall
A playground bully got a kick in the balls
U.S.A. takes a body blow
Get ready for a million T.V. shows
About attacks on “all that we hold dear”
And the news just keeps us living in fear
When everybody’s really scared
The scene is set, our minds prepared
It’s all straight out of Hollywood
Terrorists bad, governments good
Eyes glued to the TV screen
Overdrive switch on the war machine
Flags are flying in the land of the free for defenders of hypocrisy
A minute’s silence then back to work and the dogs of war are going berserk
So we’re told we have to make them pay
But who is “we” and who is “they”
Are they the mothers who silently pray
For their dying kids who got in the way
Of the superpower blitzkrieg advance
No, they never stood a fucking chance
Born in the wrong place at the wrong time
Made to suffer for the tyrant’s crimes
Smart bombs and words alike deployed
To hide the truth of lives destroyed
Are these the people we must hate?
Is this what makes a nation great?
Flags are flying in the land of the free and it’s looking good for the economy
A minute’s silence then back to work and the dogs of war are going berserk
“Liberated” by the action heroes
But enduring freedom’s still stuck at zero
War for democracy or power and oil?
The corporations are waiting for the spoils
Moving in to “reconstruct”
But for the survivors the future’s fucked
As the force of order gets let loose
Human life’s nothing but a target for abuse
So now it’s all over – victory
but everyone is an enemy
they’re always looking to start more wars
This ain’t no game with a final score
In one place the dead are victims, never to be forgot
In another it’s collateral damage, where life doesn’t mean a lot
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3. |
Work
02:24
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Well I reckon I’ve seen how the system works and there’s one thing I’ll avoid
That’s allowing myself to be exploited and mindlessly employed
Wasting my life by endless toiling as a serf
Ain’t my idea of a useful life, I’ll not be told how much I’m worth
I don’t think it’s very productive living on a production line
To another cog in the money machine I will not be confined
In making riches for the wealthy there’s many a soul been trapped
Searching for fulfilment, fighting over scraps
With the race for jobs and pay packets our lives they will divide
Making sure escape’s impossible, real choices denied
I won’t sell myself for the profits of the few
My life’s worth more, I’ve better things to do
I don’t need bosses and I won’t behave
If ever they try to make me a slave
I don’t owe the system any debts
I won’t be held to ransom or bow to threats
I’ve seen the things our rulers have done
And I know what makes their system run
With one hand they’ll point the finger at the menace to society
While the other one’s taking all it can by official daylight robbery
I’ll try not to pay taxes for bigger prisons and more wars
I’ll not contribute to their progress, mine’s a different cause
No way I’m chasing more and more to measure my success
They’ll try to tell me what I need, I’m always happier with less
See how the bosses reward themselves, they say the choices they make are hard
But when there’s riches to be made there’s human beings to discard
I’ll spend my time doing things I know to be useful and worthwhile
When work is on my own terms I’ll go to it with a smile
Let’s employ ourselves at taking back all the things they stole
Our lives can be our own when we refuse the work that numbs the soul
There’s so much more that we can do when our labour isn’t forced
Making our own choices, our lives can take their course
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4. |
Choose to Refuse
02:50
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The elections farce keeps you on your arse
Choosing which scum will attack our class
Voting in thieves and hipocrites
Different shades of the same shit
The only choice here is bad and worse
Why do so many accept this curse
Your cross in a box is not much say
But it helps these bastards get their way
Giving them power is giving in
Whoever you vote for government wins
You got no choice but you gotta choose
It’s all an illusion you can refuse
Giving them power is giving in
Whoever you vote for government wins
The ballot box is a well laid trap
It should only be used to take a crap
Politicians do nothing for me and you
About real life they don’t have a clue
Everything they do and say is fake
They make a career of being on the take
Corrupt, greedy, lying scum
Noses stuck up corporate bums
With your votes you’re saying let’s have more
Of a system that’s rotten to the core
Kneel, bend over and vote in the ultimate show of futility and powerlessness
Vote to be a spectator watching them run and ruin your life
Vote X Factor, Big Brother, choose one lifeless shithead or another
So much choice, it’s so exciting but voting changes nothing!
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5. |
Autonomous Spaces
03:39
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Can’t shake the feeling we’ve been here before
If I could just get closer to the door
Does anyone else feel the need to scream
Now we’ve spent two hours on the colour scheme
So, twelve more items we’ve got to discuss
Well if this is anarchy, what’s the fuss?
Trapped in meetings with no end
Talking round in circles, going round the bend
But stay calm! Reality check! What the fuck did you expect?
There’s no short cuts and time flies, learning to self organise
With no leaders we have equal say, we’re trying a different way
My time disappears clearing other people’s mess
I’d get a “proper job” if I needed this stress
If we really wanna see the collapse of the state
We’re gonna have to learn to wash our own plate
Of doing battle with the chaos I’ve had my quota
And there has to be life beyond the rota
And why if we’re so many and they are few
Are our sub-collectives made up of two?
But here’s kids coming through the door
They say they’ve never been in before
They’ve heard about the place and like the idea
Right up for it, they wanna volunteer
So much to do but our time we’ll give
Working together in collectives
Sometimes it seems we can never agree
And it doesn’t look good for our autonomy
All the hours we have spent in stupid, pointless arguments
Oh no, here we go, it’s kicking off again
This bickering’s driving me insane
Egos clash and ideas collide
It’s easy to forget we’re on the same side
But there’s friends for life who’ll meet up here
And many more who’ll lose their fear
No more living in isolation
Building trust and cooperation
An open space to communicate
No limits to what we can create
Our city’s dominated by corporate shit
Everywhere they’re getting away with it
Every last corner privatised
Dragging us down with high rise
More supermarkets and luxury flats
To line the pockets of the fat cats
And we’re priced out and pushed aside
Then they whinge about why has the community died
But this place is for everyone
We’ve seen what can be done
With nothing but our energy
Ideas and strength of community
Giving for free as much as we can
This is where make our stand
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6. |
Quiet Life
06:50
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Anything for a quiet life, eh?
A life of conformity, complicity, keeping your head down and your eyes, ears and mouth well shut
Where peace is the sort protected by armies and police
And the quiet is the kind you find in the graveyard
If ever I choose to change my ways to a normal life for the rest of my days
To be a good citizen what does it take?
Should I let myself be easily led by soothing voices in my head
To fill my life with plastic ‘til I’m dead?
I could buy a more beautiful better me with people on telly for company
Put all my hopes on the lottery
Should I vote for the government of liberty, shop my friends and family
Feel safe with more CCTV?
To be normal these are some of the things you’ll need
To earn your place in the temple of greed
Carry on shopping while all around you dies
For the rich and famous we’ll line the streets, I’ll live for the chance to kiss their feet
My love for leaders will be complete
I’ll take as truth everything I’m told and learn to be ruthless as my life goes cold
See that all things in this world can be bought and sold
Should I cheer the loudest when we go to war, do my best to despise the poor
When the clampdown starts I’ll be sure to stay indoors
To be normal these are some things you’ll need
See the hand that beats as the hand that feeds
Well this so called quiet life means living a lie
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7. |
Mug's Game
04:04
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So this is how it ends with crying friends and spraypaint RIPs
For another young life, lost to a knife and a grieving family
Scarves hung up at the scene of the ruck, the crew show their grief
So are they sick of it all or will they make the call for payback and more beef
Now it is on and to be someone you gotta be with the gang
With so many screw face it’s a dangerous place, someone’s gonna get banged
Wrong side of the road, wrong look or postcode, BS bullshit
Inner city stress, always a test you could be the next target
They say it’s sick hanging with the clique making a name
With hoods and caps and gangsta rap it almost feels like fame
Got no job so they go on the rob masked up with tools and blades
Mugging is for mugs, parasitical thugs desperate to upgrade
They attack in packs to jump and jack, bikes, wallets, phones
For a few more toys class unity destroyed, stealing off their own
How can they believe it’s okay to thieve, abuse and terrorise
People down the street and when they meet will they look them in the eyes?
I can understand that from where they stand the world’s their enemy
Surrounded by greed and unmet needs of a life in poverty
Community decay, no hope, low pay what do you expect?
But it can’t can’t excuse the way they choose to get money and respect
The cops are never there they just don’t care as long as it’s contained
In the trouble spots left to rot where they put the blame
Calls for more police to keep the peace keep our rulers pleased
Their solutions are fake don’t make the mistake of trusting authorities
Organising for ourselves, where do we begin
With fear, suspicion, a war of attrition and an enemy within
Gangsters and muggers with their anti social crime
are all part of the game to keep us all in line
Cops and robbers should have no place in our communities
They stand in the way of the world we want to see
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8. |
Raise Your Sights
02:10
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They sell it as adventure and so much fun, learn to drive a tank and shoot big guns
Put your manhood to the test, it’s your one big chance to be the best
If you got what it takes to lose the fear, the army will give you a good career
For so many this is how it all begins, turned into ruthless assassins
Sign on the line to seal your fate, to do the dirty work of the state
Killing for the bosses and the rich, but for all they care you can die in a ditch
Joining the ranks of millions slain for capitalist power and political gain
Thinking for yourself will be a thing of the past, orders are orders no questions asked
Leave the decisions to better minds and leave your conscience far behind
You’re already a casualty if you let them choose your enemy
Keep telling yourself that you’re with the good guys
“Fighting for freedom”, falling for their lies
The media war’s just one of their ploys to get the nation behind our boys
And when they come back in body bogs politicians demand we wave their flags
For the heroes who died in a far off place
It’s always other people’s lives their prepared to waste
Flowers, salutes and names in stone don’t bring slaughtered young men home
If ever there’s a weapon in my hand it won’t be aiming where they planned
See the real enemy, raise your sights against the system that makes us fight
Their peace means constant war and death, we will resist until our last breath
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9. |
Freedom Fighters
03:38
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A song for the brave all across the world living under attack
They’ve seen too much and suffered too long but still they’re fighting back
In slavery there’s no justice so they’re breaking their chains
They say they’ve got very little to lose and a world to reclaim
Tired of crippling poverty and living on their knees
They’re taking back control of their lives in the face of tyranny
Generals smile as they make a deal, the guns they buy are the best
They’re drawing up plans to crush these rebels helped by friends from The West
Business booms for the industry, they arm dictators well
No questions asked so far removed from the genocide they sell
So another village is razed to the ground as company profits rise
Robbed from the poor and paid in blood by people brutalised
But in a time of violence there are those who break the silence
They refuse to be victims any more
For the words they dare to speak and the justice that they seek
Their voices can no longer be ignored
The freedom fighters’ struggle is hard, they’ve been fighting for a while
Murderers in the highest places who never stand on trial
Some fight with words, some fight with guns, so many of them have died
Calling out for basic human rights the system denies
But the murders and the atrocities won’t stifle the people’s dreams
They long for a time of peace and no more terrorist regimes
Liberty will not be given, it’s a thing that must be won
And the people will dance again when the soldiers have gone
Go!
All strength to the freedom fighters wherever they may be
For the chains that they have dared to break they’re already running free
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10. |
Test Tube Future
02:39
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It started not so long ago, the experiment to show how little they know
The scientists blindly racing forward to perform their tricks for the company board
How long before we count the costs of boundaries we should never have crossed
And all things living used as tools to make big bucks for corporate fools
The web of life they will not see, can’t be a research laboratory
Playing god with life is a dangerous game, when it fucks up will they take the blame?
Test tube logic strictly followed, disinformation easily swallowed
The experts say it’s safe for sure – where have we heard all this before?
You’re part of this experiment, you’ve not been given a choice
So will you be forced to comply or will you raise your voice?
Do you want a test tube future, subject to a master plan?
No, I say it’s time to resist in every way we can
They say it’s carefully regulated but it’s not just the food that’s manipulated
Coz the relevant authorities have strings that are pulled by the industry
So they set out hand in hand sowing mutant seeds across the land
As the biohazard quickly spreads no-one knows what lies ahead
Unseen dangers ignored by tests in line with company interest
Millions spent to deceive to ensure the guinea pigs still believe
Experts decide where are future lies, don’t question them for they are wise
“For the common good” you’ll hear them say
and you can’t stop progress anyway
Now they’re looking hard to find the genes to realise all their long held dreams
With new, improved technology – unquestioning conformity
Building a world of happy clones with no ideas of their own
And the ones that will never suit their tastes will be dealt with as genetic waste
In an endless quest to control there are those who will gladly sell your soul
There’s nothing they won’t manipulate, take action now before it’s too late
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11. |
Fashion Victims
02:44
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So many people trying to be different but all doing the same thing
As millions of others stuck in traffic who are also wondering
Why it seems they can never be happy now all their money’s spent
And is it normal to feel so totally fucked – don’t know where the weekend went
There’s a part of them that knows full well it’s driving them insane
But soon it’s put to the back of their minds and they’re doing it all again
Buying substitutes for real life, all the things they can’t afford
Forming orderly queues to nowhere where everyone looks so bored
Shop Shop Shop til you drop – Will you ever get enough? Will it ever stop?
Shop Shop Shop til you drop – Will you ever get enough? Will it ever stop?
While we’re busy doing sums the real costs are never seen
Coz it all adds up to ecocide the damage done by our routines
So when seas turn black, the world’s on fire and ancient forests fall
He who dies with the most toys wins – it’s the rule of the shopping mall
But everyone’s a loser in this inhuman race
Burying our future under tonnes of toxic waste
And burying your head up your arse coz it’s easier to ignore
The misery and lifelessness of our endless quest for more
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12. |
Number One
06:03
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There’s a young boy lying face down in the dirt. He’s trying to hide how much it hurts
As he hurries to the gates of the playground away from the big boys who push him around
Class idiot at the back is doing her best but she just can’t cope with all these tests
Sick of being treated like a fool, punished, abused and ridiculed
42” screen his neighbours can’t compete and his car is the envy of the street
But still he hasn’t found the key to be quite as good as the celebrities
Do you ever stop to think about all the damage done
By endless competition, looking after number one?
Tit for tat, an eye for an eye and nobody can see
All against all and the world against me
Climbing the ladder of success treading on the heads of all the rest
Going to the top at all costs she’ll claw her way to one day be boss
Raging inside he’s at his worst and he’ll do what it takes to get there first
He’s a timebomb ready to explode and he’ll kill or die for this piece of road
The boys are out in force on the town looking for a ruck someone’s going down
To prove their manhood and show their might so it’s any excuse to start the fight
A young blood with so much to prove is running with the gang his life is on the move
Until one night it gets cut short another senseless stabbing on a news report
Bigots make a stand for all things white and there’s racists attacks every day and night
They say we’re overrun, we shouldn’t let them in. This is how fascism begins
Survival of the fittest makes the world go round and war on this earth is everywhere to be found
Man versus nature, ecosystems in the way, racing on the fasttrack to the end of our days
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13. |
Frightened of Freedom
02:24
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Is this really the way you choose to live? Can you trust you elected representatives?
Can you really say what you want or is their democracy just a front?
How safe do you feel with more police and do you accept that war is peace?
How much are you prepared to sacrifice, for your so-called freedom what’s the price?
Frightened of freedom so you choose to believe them
When they say we need more control
And everything’s fine if you stay in line
And quietly fulfil your role
Under all the control with which we’re faced most of us just accept our place
Never stand out from the crowd, live your life within what’s allowed
It’s with all the little rules that you obey that you build your own prison every day
There’s a guard that’s living in your head – you won’t be free until he’s dead
But he’s only as powerful as you let him be – you don’t have to surrender your will
to be free
More cameras in the streets. More wepons for cops on the beat.
New laws to punish hard. Private security. I.D. cards.
More powers for the secret state to listen in and infiltrate.
With the so called war on terrorism, society is one big prison.
Try doing some things you never dared – each time you do you’ll be less scared
Say the things people don’t like to mention – bare your arse to social convention
Anything’s possible – imagine a life without rules or discipline
Learn to pick the locks of mental cages – disobedience is so contagious
Lose the fear of being on you own and realise anyway you’re not alone
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Spanner UK
Spanner has been mixing politics and pleasure since around 2000, and we aim to still be at it when it’s time for dancing on the ruins of the empire. We’re taking bookings for the after party now!
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