LYRIC: The Tone of our Oppression

It’s easy to say they’re all the same

Same ideologies under a slightly different name

And I remember, as a kid, thinking Bill Hicks was so deft

With his “puppet on the right” and his “puppet on the left”

I’m just as guilty as him as I sang “vote for change”

Implying the choice is fiction when you’re choosing from a range

Of options limited from pretty bad to even worse

I sang democracy’s eulogy and packed it in a hearse

Because it’s evident to all of us that we’re not truly represented

And if voting could change anything they’d have made a law against it

But while I confess we are being oppressed, I think that history’s shown

When it comes to our oppression each election sets the tone

Because there’s a tone to our oppression

We choose the tone of our oppression

What is the tone of our oppression?

There is a tone to our oppression 

Each campaign sets parameters of what we should debate

Do we pick the puppet who speaks of love or the puppet who speaks of hate?

Each candidate has a worldview of what problems we all face

And this worldview is instructive of where priorities will be placed

For while utopia remains a goal, we’re not in utopia yet

And we can’t afford idealistic gambles with our social safety net

Because people actually live and die based on policy decisions

We might agree they’re not perfect but don’t tell me all politicians

Are all basically the same when that is blatantly untrue

The lesser of two evils entails a better of the two

It’s not a lot but it’s not nothing and it’s time we heed this lesson

Their rhetoric sets a mandate for the tone of our oppression

Because there’s a tone to our oppression

We choose the tone of our oppression

What is the tone of our oppression?

There is a tone to our oppression 

We choose the tone of our oppression

Real lives will be affected by who is and isn’t elected

LYRIC: Vote For Change

 The economy is fucked

You want a job you’re out of luck

And don’t you feel that sense of déjà vu?

For have we not heard this before?

The promise that they’ll do much more,

Kick the old guard out and start anew?

And isn’t it incredible

How absolutely gullible

In the end we all turn out to be?

The same old lies, a different voice

We still believe we have a choice

A vote for change we never really see

When we VOTE FOR CHANGE

One speaks of audacity

The other a Big Society

In practice both illusions are the same

The re-branding of old ideas

Contemporized with modern fears

The same old story under a new name

And isn’t it familiar?

Euphoria, hysteria,

The sense of something new to start again?

And how that feeling soon falls flat

A creeping dread, you realize that

The brand new day you dreamt of never came

Still you VOTE FOR CHANGE

Did you really think they’d let you choose?

If it meant they might actually lose?

Did you really think you had a say?

When with the promise of salvation you’ll shut up and go away?

They keep on giving us black eyes

And yet we still feign our surprise

Every time the fist flies to our face

The actors change the play’s the same

Different rules to an unchanged game

A wealth of evidence on which to base

This isn’t just conspiracy

But documented history:

Those with power don’t let go the reigns

Yet still we hope each time again

That this is now and that was then

And blindly follow liars lulling “change”

And we VOTE FOR CHANGE

LYRIC: Temporary

There’s only so many times that I can whine that it’s unfair

When there’s nothing I can do to make things better

There’s only so many kinds of heart-break that I can take

Before my heart gets broken down forever

There’s only so many goals that I can watch just disappear

As time marches on not concerned or caring

There’s only so many tolls that I can pay for my mistakes

Without feeling something inside me start tearing

There will be days when you can’t go on

There will be times when everything goes wrong

There will be moments when the pain’s too much

There will be times when hope seems so far away

There’s only so many games that I can be bothered to play

When I know the rules are stacked against my favour

There’s only so many pains that I can take before I die

And I know there is no ever-loving Saviour

There’s only so many fights that I can give a damn to win

Before the sense of loss starts feeling like a habit

There’s only so many nights that I can sit up asking why

There’s something that I need and I don’t have it

There will be days when you can’t go on

There will be times when everything goes wrong

There will be moments when the pain’s too much

There will be times when hope seems so far away

But it’s not always like that, and all the things that seem so bleak

Are only temporary

Though the hurt can weigh you down, don’t forget these open wounds

Are only temporary

When the world sees like too much and cynicism is all you know

It’s only temporary

There’s only so many times that I can whine that it’s unfair

Before whining loses all justification

There’s only so many crimes against my heart that I can bear

Before laughter takes the place of devastation

There’s only so many days that I can wish that I were dead

Before I’m overwhelmed by stunning revelation

That there are so many ways that I can change the way things are

If I recognise and avoid this stagnation

There will be days when you can’t go on

There will be times when everything goes wrong

There will be moments when the pain’s too much

There will be times when hope seems so far away

But it’s OK!

LYRIC: Anti-Me World

You do things that I think are stupid

I hate the way you’re all the same

Your ideas are the same as each others’

Your unoriginality is lame

Anti-me world makes me wanna hurl

I’m trapped in this place

If I don’t get out today I’ll get out another way

But deep down I know there’s no escape

From this Anti-Me World

Nothing is right for me, everything is wrong for me

And you can call me crazy

Just because I do things that are different to the norm

Why is this world so Anti-Me?

Anti-me world makes me wanna hurl

I’m trapped in this place

If I don’t get out today I’ll get out another way

But deep down I know there’s no escape

From this Anti-Me World

What you all do today just ain’t what I like

Infact to tell you the truth you’ve ruined my life

Won’t leave me alone and let me get on my way

Tease me call me crazy, weird, strange, and insane

You lot are ignorant you haven’t got a clue

My world is fine as long as I’m

Excluded from you

Be the same as everyone and meanwhile I shall

Continue in my struggle to be original

But this you won’t allow

In your Anti-Me world

Anti-me world makes me wanna hurl

I’m trapped in this place

If I don’t get out today I’ll get out another way

But deep down I know there’s no escape

From this Anti-Me World

Lyric: Entrapment of the Flesh

Imagine a world cleansed of hate and fear where every view is listened to with an open ear,

Opression and greed no longer exist and there are no more laws just anarchists

Humanity finally decides to stop hating each other and create good lives

Anarchy not a vision or deluded dream, everyone gets along and the world is serene

But in this utopia our problems still won’t end

With human bodies wearing us we’ll still be slaves

To germs, bacteria, disease and illnesses that kill…

That’s it!  You’re sick!  And you’ll never be free in your human body!

Because when oppression is gone and we’re living in freedom, there’ll still be the chance of the flu…

That’s it!

Slave to the body even when the mind is free, try bucking the system when you’ve got the big C,

Plot the revolution to smash the state, put it in action with a raging headache!

Scientists are working on the perfect germ bomb

Lesson wasn’t learnt with AIDS that man cannot control disease and if he tries

He dies!

That’s it!  You’re sick!  And you’ll never be free in your human body!

Because when oppression is gone and we’re living in freedom, there’ll still be the chance of the flu…

That’s it!

Disease will sneak up on you stealthier than a government spook

There is no cure for sickness cuz you need the symptoms first to get your pills!

That’s it!  You’re sick!  And you’ll never be free in your human body!

Because when oppression is gone and we’re living in freedom, there’ll still be the chance of the flu…

That’s it!

LYRIC: Reality Casualty

He woke at six as normal

Put on a face as normal

He went to work as normal

Smiled at colleagues as normal

His misery a hidden part of him

Until they found his hanging body

She went to Joy’s as normal

Coffee and chat as normal

Left at two as normal

Back to her home as normal

Threw her two kids to their deaths and then followed them out the window

Of their twelfth floor apartment

They lived their lives as normal

Saw all their friends as normal

Picked up the kid as normal

Gave him his tea as normal

Then went upstairs and shot themselves to death

Found by their six year old child

Just another reality casualty

Another case of this life’s misery

One person every hour and a half 

Give up on this life

Why

So many fed up with this 

Life

So many going without

Help

Are our goals really what we need or just false lies from which we bleed?

He went to school as normal

Got pushed around as normal

Cried all alone as normal

Left at four as normal

A school tie was the substance of his noose

It’s getting them early now

LYRIC: Happy Song

Never really wrote a happy song before

I always concentrate on misery and war

Or how some girl broke my heart

Always neglecting the part

Where I deserved it

But then you came into my life

Made me see the world was much more bright 

Than I had hitherto realised

You opened my eyes

And now I wanna write a happy song for you

But I don’t know what to do

Because I haven’t done it before

It all feels so new

And I don’t know any happy chords

You gotta believe this is a happy tune

Written to put across how my heart is in bloom

And how I’m feeling such joy

Please don’t be annoyed

That it sounds evil

I’m just not used to being happy

Haven’t got the tools to feel this way

But even so, you’ve got to know

That I really do

And now I wanna write a happy song for you

But I don’t know what to do

Because I haven’t done it before

It all feels so new

And I don’t know any happy chords

I wish I did I really do

But I can’t seem to write a happy tune

But now I wanna write a happy song for you

But I don’t know what to do

Because I haven’t done it before

It all feels so new

And I don’t know any happy chords

LYRIC: Glad To Miss You

The start of something new

But I’m not there with you

I wish that I knew then what I know now

Three-thousand miles away

The distance is so great

I wish that I knew then what I know now

But if I could go away from you and just not give a damn

Sure it wouldn’t hurt so much but you must understand

The fact that it hurts makes it real

These feelings that we feel

The pain in our hearts seals the deal

And I’m so glad that I have you to miss today

I want to be with you

It’s simple but it’s true

I wish that I knew then what I know now

Plans made in darker times

Forced us to say goodbye

I wish that I knew then what I know now

But if I could say goodbye to you and just not give a damn

Sure it wouldn’t hurt so much but you must understand

The fact that it hurts makes it real

These feelings that we feel

The pain in our hearts seals the deal

And I’m so glad that I have you to miss today

I know I’m far away

But it’ll be ok

In just a few more days

I’ll be with you

I know right now I’m gone

But it won’t be for long

Please baby just hold on

These last few days…

The start of something new

So glad that I miss you

And glad that I know now what I know now

I’m counting down the days

‘til I see you again

And glad that I know now what I know now

Because if I could leave you far behind and just not give a damn

Sure it wouldn’t hurt so much but you must understand

The fact that it hurts makes it real

These feelings that we feel

The pain in our hearts seals the deal

And I’m so glad that I have you to miss today

I’m so glad

That I have you

I’m so glad that I have you to miss today

LYRIC: Another Day, Another Worry

I see others breeze through life in a way which seems so alien to me

Unburdened by the weight of their days darkened by anxiety

Never knowing what it’s like to not feel normal in a crowd

Undisturbed by nagging voices planting concerns oh-so-loud

It’s like a war is going on but the only soldier fighting’s me

And no-one else who shares my flag can even see there is an enemy

The main collateral damage is my day-to-day sanity

“The price, we think, ain’t worth it”, says a grimly smiling Secretary

“This war will be a long war and we cannot see an end in sight,

It may well be that in your life a day won’t pass free from this fight.”

Another day, another worry

I’m not recovering in a hurry

They say it takes time but I’m having doubts

How much time before my time runs out?

When I was a kid they used to say I was the serious one

Always picking problems where the other kids were having fun

Get these ideas in my head that I just couldn’t seem to shake

But I learnt early that a smile was a thing people liked it if I faked

Familiar feelings of a heart crank-speeding in my chest

Constricted throat, no breath, my hands and face encased in sweat

I’d look around for help but knew no help I’d ever get

External weapons could make no contact with this internal threat

And so I learned to cope by learning that I probably never would

And that the sort of life which others had was something that I never could

Yeah, I would never never know a day that would be footloose and fancy-free

I would never know a day I would be free from my anxiety

Another day, another worry

I’m not recovering in a hurry

They say it takes time but I’m having doubts

How much time before my time runs out?

I suppose at this point we should start talking about meds

The use of chemicals to put right problems in our heads

The kind you get from doctors and the kinds they cannot give

The drugs that ease the pressure and restore the will to live

Except I never took a thing, and I probably never will

Not that I have anything against those who try to get help from a pill

It’s just a code I arbitrarily imposed — maybe once there was a reason but now who the hell knows?

That I wouldn’t put those poisons in my veins or up my nose

Couldn’t see a reason to add addiction to my growing list of woes

Some tell me I’m straightedge because I’m scared of losing grip

Others tell me that I seek control and a life I can predict

Me, I think it has to do with drunken people being dicks

But it could be emetophobia and my fear of being sick?

Most likely its my dad and all the harm I saw it do

But it’s also got to do with what is false and what is true

Because I could achieve synthetically the state I’m looking for

But to get better authentically would mean a whole lot more

Another day, another worry

I’m not recovering in a hurry

They say it takes time but I’m having doubts

How much time before my time runs out?

Did I bring it on myself or is it in genetic code?

Was it the way they brought me up or did I do it on my own?

Always fearing for the worst and seeing clouds in silver linings

Seeing everything will fall apart with a clarity that’s blinding

Thinking about those origins – the problem in another form

Anxiety about anxiety: was it made or was it born?

The fact is, it doesn’t matter how it came but that it’s here

And I’m sick of every day filled with a litany of fear

But the alternative is worse so I dig in and persevere

Because although I’m terrified I’m still glad that I am still here

Cuz I refuse to be held prisoner by some voices in my head

And I’ll perform my prison break each day I rise up from my bed

I’m not convinced I have discovered yet the key to set me free

But I keep picking at the lock to escape each day’s anxiety

And I feel good about my chances as the battle rages on

And I will conquer every day until my last tomorrow’s come

LYRIC: Only Dying

The message comes in morning mail

The envelope is thin and pale

A single page is all it holds

But even so your blood runs cold

There’s no runnin’

There’s no hidin’

There’s no delayin’

Don’t bother tryin’

And there’s no runnin’

There’s no hidin’

There’s no delayin’

There’s only dyin’

A doctor’s name and then a date

The tests that will decide your fate

The thing you hoped would go away

Has just grown strong while you delayed

God’s non-existence, though displayed

You think it might be time you prayed

Dear father who art in heaven

And mother who art there too

You died too young, and left me shaken

I count the hours, till I’m with you

It’s not a way to live your days

One foot inside an early grave

But grief has scarred and left its mark

So happy days dim into dark

There’s no runnin’

There’s no hidin’

There’s no delayin’

Don’t bother tryin’

And there’s no runnin’

There’s no hidin’

There’s no delayin’

There’s only dyin’

Got too good at writing eulogies

Thinking about terminal disease

They tell me it will all be fine

Routine procedure, happens all the time

But they said the same to dad and mom

And moments later both were gone

There’s no runnin’

There’s no hidin’

There’s no delayin’

Don’t bother tryin’

And there’s no runnin’

There’s no hidin’

There’s no delayin’

There’s only dyin’

I barely sleep, as dreams are plagued

A hundred diagnoses made

And when I wake I sit and shake

And pray the nurse my blood to take

Another night staring at the clock

Another night wondering what I’ve got

Dear institution founded by Nye Bevan

Hallowed be thy name

Thy will is being undone by conservative scum

And I fear we’re all gonna die in great pain

Am I terrified of finding out

Or am I terrified of losing doubt

The day draws near and time will tell

If I’m ill or if I’m well

 And there’s no runnin’

There’s no hidin’

There’s no delayin’

Don’t bother tryin’

And there’s no runnin’

There’s no hidin’

There’s no delayin’

There’s only dyin’

 The message came in morning mail

The envelope was thin and pale

I clasped it like the holy grail

Results inside, end of the trail

I felt my body getting frail

My fingers twitched my breath was stale

Will I pass or will I fail?

The message came in morning mail

LYRIC: ANARCHOPHY

When I was 12 I was angry and bored

Found music by Green Day and Faith No More

It was different than other stuff hitherto heard

But the difference could not yet be put into words

Skip forward a year, 1995

A new album by Green Day comes into my life

I’m told “this is punk” and I dye my hair green

As I fumble my way into this revivified scene

Believe it or not it was on MTV

That I first saw a band called Dead Kennedys

Jello sang “Life Sentence” and my mind was blown

On Alternative Nation these first seeds were sown

I headed to Tempest and purchased a tape:

Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death my catalyst of fate

At first listen I wanted to take the thing back!

Not as tuneful as Green Day, I thought it was crap!

But the guy back at Tempest flat out said “no”

Said to “give it a chance”, said “let the sound grow”

And I already knew that the bastard was right

I’d been humming California Uber Alles all fucking night!

And the noise soon endeared the more that I’d hear

Graduating from Green Day I developed an ear

But the more that I listened the more questions I had:

Who were Reagan and Thatcher?  Were they really this bad?

I caught up with the 80s in protest and rage

Ignorant to the incidents on which lyrics were based

Time to pick up a paper and read a few books

Look deep into places I had not before looked

The Cold War, The Contras, Zinn, Pilger and Chomsky

My political awakening soundtracked by fast punk beats

Freedom of style

Freedom of thought

Anarchist philosophies go from is to ought

This is the world

It ought not to be

A better way is possible

You’re not gonna stop me

 Caught up to the 90s, new faces same villains

New modern excuses for old imperialist killings

It started with Dead Kennedys, it still hasn’t ended

Music and politics will forever be blended

The reading went on, from Sixth Form to Uni

I studied Politics alongside Philosophy

I now knew the players, I wanted the theories

The justification for a world so damn dreary

A nightmare so sickening and getting worse yearly

All while our leaders tell us we have to be cheery

I wanted to see why it was nothing changed

How identified problems continued to reign

And as the world progressed backwards and repressed ever faster

I accumulated degrees — first my bachelors then a masters

Through dissertation and thesis I sought for solution

A social and intellectual revolution

And yes, I delighted in the irony

When I secured government funding for my PhD

About anarchism as the only power structure that’s legitimate

A hundred thousand words and I think that I proved it

But what was the use of these writings on power

When locked in the basement of some old ivory tower?

I’d speak at a conference, argue with academics,

Who’d roll jaded eyes at my youthful polemics

Less interested in life than in words and their meaning

Reducing discussion to mere linguistic preening

I wanted the world to be changed by ideas

But it won’t ever happen if nobody hears

I thought of those records that started my path

And I left academia.  I didn’t look back.

Freedom of style

Freedom of thought

Anarchist philosophies go from is to ought

This is the world

It ought not to be

A better way is possible

You’re not gonna stop me

Through all the years I kept all these notes

Poetry and prose for found and lost hope

It began as a kid in my ongoing journal

Poems and lyrics to make thoughts eternal

Diaries and blogs, novels and music

If I don’t jot it down I’m terrified I’d lose it

Embalming my thoughts: each sentence a snapshot

Some moments to be shared; some moments — perhaps not

But all of them part of an ongoing journey

Of trying to solve all the things that concern me

Political, personal, ancient or new

In writing I’m trying to unlock the truth

Been putting them in songs since Green Day’s “Insomniac”

I put down the guitar now and then but I keep coming back

Sometimes it’s punk rock, sometimes it’s hip-hop

What’s clear to me now is it’s not going to stop

So what is ANARCHOPHY? What does it mean?

This mixture of anarchy and philosophy?

To me it means freedom and an enquiring mind

Poking at pulling all of the lies that bind

Analysing even the most sacred cow

Speaking the thoughts they try not to allow

Questioning structures of authority

Calling bullshit on bullshit when bullshit I see

It’s a name for the thoughts I can’t not put in rhyme

All those burning questions I’ve asked for a very long time

It’s a 12 year old boy listening loudly to punk

It’s a PhD thesis that still no-one’s debunked

It’s having a voice and deciding to use it

It’s demanding the impossible all set to good music

Freedom of style

Freedom of thought

Anarchist philosophies go from is to ought

This is the world

It ought not to be

A better way is possible

You’re not gonna stop me

LYRIC: The Forbidden Curriculum

Propaganda decorates the walls, we’re taught to fear our masters

It’s in the rules that we don’t complain, if we do it is a disaster

Is this place Nazi Germany?

No it’s just my school

Subserviance is taught to me

The government’s prime tool

We’re taught only what they want us to know,

Worthless “facts” not education

Punished when we speak out loud

Creating a slave-nation

School!

National curriculum/National restriction

You can no longer use your brains

If you don’t go along with their marking schemes you’ll never get the grade!

Curriculumized, bastardized

School bores me, it’s no suprise

Creativity ain’t worth a hill of beans

With government approved marking schemes

We’re taught only what they want us to know,

Worthless “facts” not education

Punished when we speak out loud

Creating a slave-nation

School!