The year is 2013 Time we got this right We've tried all other avenues And now This is the one solution left So listen Comrades here And those at home Welcome to Mud Island Where clouds don't clear And no one comes for asylum Where you can't grow food without a horticulture license And licenses are only granted to corporate giants Not the Jolly Green They're monsters of oil and iron Who shape government policy And own soil and sky And they also own the rights To the writer's pens So no news can find a vent Without prior consent And that consent doesn't come When the news is anti-government Or pro-Islam Or anti-capitalism Or about the fear that always hangs in the distance Or the fact that every other cousin's languishing in prison Or the lack of a living wage That wages war on actually living The buses are silent We all face forward Like the drones in 1984 Afraid to talk in case we're breaking laws We didn't even know existed The terror agents on the corners Who can leave you broken wristed With interrogation methods Never less than vicious And detention without charge Is the quintessence of Englishness The quintessence of Englishness If we succumb to the river It will carry us off So raise one middle finger To the cameras watching Another to them acting In the manner of Gods They can k** us But they can't switch humanity off It's been this way Since the 2012 olympics When six thousand people died In six terrorist hits It was the perfect excuse To pull the noose on civil liberty Suddenly The streets thronged with the military New police with new powers A new face for the state And this threat that waits above us Like a guillotine A brand new prison camp The pride of the Ministry Where suspects are sent At the Prime Minister's decree Guantanamo mark two Here at home in Glastonbury Approved by referendum Built very democratically And the key to the core Of the Government's terror strategy Orange boiler suits Water board torture and shackled feet With capacity for more than a thousand dissidents Housed in mesh cages and force fed food 'Til proven innocent While the rest of us eat, sleep, sh** and do business As the advertisers sell us shampoos and conditioners But there are many who still refuse to give into this Struggle to uncover truth in news and statistics Who grow our own food And make our own kid's syllabus' Who make our own decisions And won't live as prisoners
There are those of us who live and love And chat with our neighbors Who strip back the fear And products and shallow status And ads and wastage And suits and braces 'Til we're human beings Being human standing naked Say it Human beings Being human Standing Naked Being human Standing Naked If we succumb to the river It will carry us off Raise one middle finger To the cameras watching Another to them acting In the manner of Gods They can k** us But they can't switch humanity off But it's not enough to act free, stubborn, courageous We need to deal with the causes Of the struggles that face us We've looked deeper than the surface wounds And we've seen the whole system is a river of blood And it's running in the veins of a rotted corpse And we can't stop its course quick enough Cause it runs to the cups of the corporation and the state Two drunk men, holding each other up Feeding each others function Why? Cause what's good for order is great for the capitalist And brands are the perfect opiate for the ma**es It works perfectly A marriage of mutual bond While the earth and the people are murdered And brutally wronged While now We vow to bring it down sector by sector Every symbol of oppression Every pillar of its architecture Banks that keep the wealth held by too few men Superstores that s** communities dry Cameras whirring and watching our every movement Prisons that create crime and dehumanize Arms manufacturers, security firms, media Car manufacturers, government departments Every symbol of our democratic servants turned "leaders" From the modified crops they're growing in our back gardens To the firms that profit producing polluntants The list is here Read it and go to it We'll be their public nuisance Their writing on the wall Our revolution Until the people dance to a new music And it means sacrifice And it might mean pain But there's a duty calling on us To be people again No state is going to save us No progress without us We must realize and grow And manifest our own powers So I say it again The time is now Go to it 'Til the people on the street Are dancing to their own music The time is now Go to it Until the people on the street Dance to their own music If we succumb to the river It will carry us off Raise one middle finger To the cameras watching Another to them acting In the manner of Gods They can k** us But they can't switch humanity off