New Model Army

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

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

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..
take the bait..
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.

Creeping,creeping footsteps around the world
around the world
while they promised us
everything we've ever wanted,ever wanted.
(*2)

Hush now,don't you cry (cry)
don't you realise your crime...
your crime...
your crime...
your crime...
your crime...

Like lambs go to the slaughterhouse
we know our rights from wrongs
and 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...

Creeping,creeping footsteps

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 .

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 . . .

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 -
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

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

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 . . .

The wolf he howls, howls up at the moon,
out on the steps beneath my hotel room.
Was in the woods behind this little town
we went flying up through the silhouette trees,
then crashing down. Colours brighter than I've ever seen,
More wired than I've ever been - and the faces turn to stone . . .
On through the gates again - what a wonderful way to go . . .
What a wonderful way to go.

Tell me your story, tell me no lies;
we touch each other - but only with our eyes.
Some kind of game, to play with desire;
it's just beneath the skin that I'm alive.
Colours brighter than I've ever seen - more wired than I've ever been
And the faces turn to stone - on through the gates again;
what a wonderful way to go - what a wonderful way to go.

Tonight the moon, she lays a silver path across the blackened sea,
I'm swimming out against the tide, the waves are breaking over me;
and deep beneath the waters in the darkness I can hear her
as she calls for me to come. . .

The wolf he howls, howls up at the moon;
some day coming - some day soon
Onto his shoulder, to carry me home;
flying up through the silhouette trees and we'll be gone
Colours brighter than I've ever seen - more wired than I've ever been;
And all the faces turn to stone - on through the gates again . . .
What a wonderful way to go - what a wonderful way to go . . .

Raised in the fields in the back of beyond,
hauled into position as a prodigal son.
I was not Abel - I was a Cain;
the kind you find a use for every now and again.
I can't abide what things have become,
they think that you're simple, they think that I'm dumb
You want to know one thing I advise?
Shoot when you see the whites of their eyes.
They'll come to you in the perfect disguise
clock you too late, with a squeal of surprise
shoot when you see the whites, the whites of their eyes.
The wolf-child smiles in the shallowest dreams
and you don't know just what it means
Hey diddle diddle, what on earth can it be?
You ain't going to get any answers from me

I was working shift on the six o'clock, quiet in the pale dawn.
Found a bird caught in the machinery - set it free and watched it go
Quit the job that very day, and flew into the sky
Just following after this aimless desire, this awful desire, this worthless desire.

Now I've found causes and I've found families, but nothing ever lasts;
I've known people I'd die for - if only they had asked.
Where I'm from is not my home, and neither's where I'm bound;
Just following after this aimless desire, worthless desire
So tonight beneath the bridge where the fires burn,
God, take the freedom back,
deliver me from the aimless desire, the worthless desire
And chimera she waits, and I have still got this hole in me
still got this hole inside of me

Behind all the rusting cranes, in the lengthening shadows of the Empire days
there's a world that waits, but it's not needed.
In the teeming rows behind the goal - yelling for blood on the pitch below;
where does all the passion go when it's not needed?
Over the wire, and into the darkness . . .
Come evangelists of the Grand New Age proclaiming the future that they stole,
condemning the things they can't control - just like the priests before;
and now I can hear them call - the ghosts of the 1914-18 war
Where do all the innocents go when they're not needed?
Over the wire and into the darkness . . .

And the dawn it will come like blood across the sky,
Not the way that you think, not the way that you dream
In the silence of God, in the fullness of time,
like blood across the sky - the dawn it will come - the dawn it will come.

All still, like the pitshafts and the two-mile-down where they buried their hearts;
where does all the loyalty go when it's not needed?
In the plastic seats behind the goal yelling for blood on the pitch below;
where does all the passion go when it's not needed?
Over the wire and into the darkness . . .

To the Queen of my Heart, from the King of Nowhere
I have watched you arming, and how you wave your sword in the air
Always fighting the shadows as they move behind you,
And the beating wings that hover around you...
To the queen of my heart, from the king of nowhere
It's a shallow sky that holds us in; you can reach right out
And touch the edge with just one outstretched hand and feel
The dark come closing in.
And there's nowhere far enough away from here
The ringing ears and the closing air, and the cities and deserts all beat the same
The radio waves crackle and phase, the satellites spinning slowly round.
The radar towers search and call
To the Queen of my Heart, from the King of Nowhere...
This is the great world calling to the last crusader
In the rush of the lifeblood coming out of the sunrise...
And you're the Queen of my Heart... and I'm the King of Nowhere.

Well, you never grow up, you just get older, carrying
all the familiar burdens with you, walking back on
the hometown streets on a night devoid of stars.
No one ever said it was going to be just, you really
ought to know by now how She's all red in tooth and claw;
after all, weren't you the one screaming for more?
In the gigabyte wars - round and round we go,
beneath the vapour trails - tangled up inside in a web of lies,
hostages of fortune and savage tales.
Well, you entered stage in blood and pain, gulped for air
and then you cried out - this is just the way it comes;
that's Stupid Questions again . . .
It's not the things that you fear that come to get you,
But all the things you don't expect, face down in a
drowning pool of unfulfilled desire, in the gigabyte wars . . .
Then comes the rain - just seems to make the night grow hotter,
we listen to the drops as they clatter on the roofs of the cars;
sometimes it seems like you're going to suffocate in this
conspiracy of noise - but though the ties they stretch to break-point,
still they hold, still they hold, and blood runs still in crimson streams
and dries like the earth - but still they hold.
In the gigabyte wars, once we were lost, then we were found;
once we were found - then we were lost again.
Get real, if a real exists - there's nothing more than this,
Strung out on nothingness . . .

It was summer when they finally came, the law of force
and line upon line of machine upon machine, back into the greenwood,
closer to the heart of things we go - beneath the wires stretched against the sky,
spitting out in desperation - stop the killing . . .
The wind blows down from St George's Hill through to Stanworth Woods,
and to the East, on this grey and pallid dawn the lights from the rigs
blinking out across the poisoned sea, a little group of ships floating out to meet the coming storm
sailing on in desperation - stop the killing . . .
Raised and bound upon the land, and the everlasting whispers in diamond
through the trees, in the breath of Eden . . .
Innocent still the faith we hold - our time will come . . .
That which walks the corridors of power is a virus that mutates;
immune to all resistance, and every turn of history . . .
And all that's left for us is marking crosses upon doors,
and scrawling in the golden sand before each tide comes rolling in;
screaming out in desperation - stop the killing . . .
Holding on, and out, forever . . .

Across the town on the other hill,
your lights glow from a different world.
You always found a place to hide - nails and cross to lay beside;
with all the ghosts that we denied.
Now, in rippled arcs across the sky, the great white birds of winter fly;
and the wheel turns, and people change - scattered ashes to the wind.
And there's no pain, there's no pain, there's no pain
A dry river in the blazing sun . . .

Your parched face and your callused hands,
Behind us lie the arid lands
To say too much - well, it was not our way,
and in the end there wasn't much to say;
the scars are healed now anyway
and there's no pain. . . a dry river in the blazing sun . . .

And Abraham rose, took his only son, and knife and tinder
in his hand, and setting out across the desert and up into
the scrubland hills, he bound the boy Isaac to the stone,
raised the blade and waited for the miracle.
But the wind blows silent across the hills, across the dead and the empty hills,
dead, like the god that never came,
like your face, the day that you turned away.
There's no pain . . . a dry river in the blazing sun . . .

Lit up like a Christmas tree, the oil refinery glows in the night;
and down by the shoreline the seagulls fly white, against the black.
The great moon riding shotgun - rolling out across the veil of clouds,
and you were small, and lying awake listening to the noises in the house.
With the best of them you ran, like all of us, in our season
Casting memory aside - your history, all forgotten;
driven onwards through the years in love with each distraction.
But all the while, the past is close behind;
like headlights on your tail, headlights on your tail.

Your pulse is beating faster now, like a bird flying hard against the wind;
trying to understand all the crazed compulsions that you feel.
And all the little jealousies and betrayals, they echo in the dark;
and somewhere back through it all, the key is still turning in the lock.
Now the ghosts that you have laid, they all come out to greet you;
the knowledge that you've gained - well, none of this protects you.
You've been so very far, still peace will not embrace you,
for all the while the past is close behind.
Like headlights on your tail, headlights on your tail.