1. |
Mandela's Ghost
02:55
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MANDELA’S GHOST
SKAITH & JONES
Saw Mandela’s ghost up on Table Mountain
I was wondering what hurts him most, what hits him harder.
Is it the ANC in their limos and palaces
While the townships drown in violence and poverty?
Promises broken.
Saw Mandela’s ghost up on Table Mountain
I was wondering what hurts him most, what hits him harder.
Or does his gaze go long to the West Bank and Gaza
Or the Nation State Law that brings apartheid to life again?
Apartheid to life again.
Saw Mandela’s ghost up on Table Mountain
I was wondering what hurts him most, what hits him harder.
Mandela’s ghost remembering the past
Branded as a terrorist
Mandela’s ghost how long’s it gonna last?
We are led by fools and criminals.
Saw Mandela’s ghost up on Table Mountain
I was wondering what hurts him most, what hits him harder.
Does he despair at London or cry for Washington
Lies of war, a world in flames?
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2. |
Mersey Tales
04:36
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MERSEY TALES
JEFFRIES & MACNEILL
Looking from Port Sunlight, where they make the soap
Across the Mersey where they used to make rope
2000 miles of cable, morse code enabled
The Great Eastern and stories told.
You’ll never walk alone
You’ll never walk alone
Many thousand miles from home
You’ll never walk alone
Staring out from Port Sunlight in the driving rain
Across the Mersey where they used to make chains
And the building of an empire on a workforce of slaves
Monuments of trade
For those that settled, those that remained.
If the Mersey told the stories it sent to sea
There’s more than just a flagpole outside Liverpool FC
As the world sits down to the Premier league
Looking back at Port Sunlight through sugar and cotton
Across the Mersey, the Liver Bird forgotten
See it in the photos, the faces, the whips
Every three days the ships
Leaving and arriving to ticker tape.
You’ll never walk alone
You’ll never walk alone
Many thousand miles from home
You’ll never walk alone
We cannot walk alone
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3. |
Equality Not Revenge
03:29
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EQUALITY NOT REVENGE
SKAITH
Stolen lives, maybe 12 million
To the Americas transported
But not all - 2 million overboard
Sick or refusing orders
Then the mills or the fields
Do as you’re told or there’s a flogging
12 hours a day, except the Sabbath of course
The master’s got to thanks his Lord
An awesome woman in a righteous rage
To those who say ‘move on , let’s just turn the page’
Imagine a different way that this could end.
Oh thank God it’s for equality and not revenge.
Can seem strange to talk of ‘white privilege’
When it’s just pay check to pay check.
What you get always the minimum
And that is all you’ll ever leave your children
But never lynched as the good folk brought their kids to watch
While a black kid walks to school through a howling mob
Never had to get up and give up your seat
And a cop would probably move if you said you couldn’t breathe.
Song inspired by seeing this: ht tps://youtu.be/2aZHrJoT1jE
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4. |
Another Day With You
03:49
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ANOTHER DAY WITH YOU
SKAITH, JEFFRIES & MACNEILL
Clearing a desk, papers to one side
“I’ll be five minutes more”, the oft-repeated lie
Dragging up from the chair, to grab a case
Attaching a smile, a going-home face
Withholding a sigh, pulls the door to
Wondering if it will be another day with you
Car full of clothes, life’s discarded heap
Where are the dreams of travel? Dreams of sleep
The unspoken worry, the solitary shifts
The regular callers and broken-down lifts
Absence of affection, those moments as two
If only they’d wanted another day with you
Dishwasher done, washing on a line
Cleared away breakfast, Gardner’s Question Time
The kids are growing, the lawn needs mowing
Another day with you
Unanswered phone, uniform all dry
Washing up alone, ironing piled high
Kids’ll be going, never knowing
Another day with you
Sunday morning awake, alone
A dog, a cat but one less person home
No visitors call , not expecting the knock
The music of ‘You and Me’ over a clock
Loud stirring of tea, one sugar or two
Whoever wanted another day with you?
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5. |
Nightschool
03:22
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NIGHTSCHOOL
SKAITH & JONES
You settle the 7-year old down with a neighbour
She’s as good as gold.
Then you get caught on the step
You always vote Labour won’t they ever be told?
They’re holding you up you’ll miss night school.
Oh it is eerie to wander again
The chalk dusted classroom especially when
What you left them to get
Gave out like an old loom unthreaded again
You tug at the spool of this night school.
The teacher’s enjoying his role
The fount of all knowledge his eyes are like coal
You’ve started to drift
Get back to the college for your years of control
Don’t be a qualified fool from this night school
Sometimes you can’t help thinking
You’re all treated like asses
To be led and fed and buried by this idiot in glasses
Who has made it very clear
That he’s in charge of all the passes
Even as he guides your footsteps
By the light of his night classes
What to do with this pecking inside?
Let it take wing or leave it untied
Or be caught in his snare
Be snagged in his gold ring, it’s yours to decide
The lessons are cruel in this night school
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6. |
Growing My Shadow
03:02
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GROWING MY SHADOW
SKAITH & JEFFRIES & MACNEILL
As I put on the lipstick on,
I see your face
Gathering behind me
Determining my place
Forming the focus for the day
For my day
As I shape my brows
To a mild surprise
A questioning arch
Over dancing eyes
I catch a corner, a hint of light
A fractured display
Growing my shadow, painted day after day
Reflections from you
Deflections from me
Growing my shadow, painted day after day
I’m growing my shadow
A portrait, a frame
As I add rose to my cheeks
Colouring a ghost
I see a tear streak
Ribbons of words I cannot say
As is my way
Darkening lashes reflecting the light
Blockaded in flashes, they flicker for flight
Growing my shadow, painted day after day
I’m growing my shadow
A portrait, a frame
I’m growing my shadow
Face made for the day
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7. |
Keeping My Head
02:58
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KEEPING MY HEAD
SKAITH & JONES
Your telephone is ringing, it’s playing you my song
One that seemed so special way back when
Now there’s a million on your playlist, just cents to sing along
Manhattan’s gone for pretty beads again.
Manhattan’s gone but the penny drops for people now and then.
Oh oh oh oh I’m keeping my head right down
Just look at me now, my eyes to the floor
Oh oh oh oh I’m keeping my head right down
Oh someone’s tied a wolf to the door.
Here’s a crumb of comfort for the wretched of the earth
Here’s the greatest story ever told
It’s got the Jordon river and a virgin giving birth
Wood and nails and pilgrim trails gone cold
And a simple but so enterprising kiss that got him sold.
The world we used to know is now a world of risk
We watch the chaos from the safety of this disk
But oh no oh no, the firewall’s paper thin
Oh no oh no the government’s breaking in
Oh no oh no we haven’t got a prayer
Oh no oh no, they’re selling off this air we breathe.
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8. |
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THAT’S WHY I TURNED MY BADGE IN
SKAITH & JONES
They had me watch for snipers when the president rolled in
I booked a doctor’s letter and went back home again..
I watched him on the TV give the truth a little spin
I hate to be misled and that is why…
I turned my badge in.
That’s why I turned my badge in
That’s why I quit the team
I’m tired of catching flak all day
For someone else’s dream.
That’s why I turned my badge in
That’s why I quit the force
Policing farmers’ picket lines
And Rodney King of course
They handed me an M16 I left behind my kin
Half the men who came back home are shooting heroin
I’d rather make my peace back then with Uncle Ho Chi Minh
I hate to be mis-lead that’s why…
I can hear my father saying don’t go leading with your chin
Between Uncle Sam and chaos there’s a little star of tin
And too many wooden nickels can drive out the genuine
You see I hate to be misled that’s why…
And black lives matter of course.
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9. |
The Bevin Boys
03:38
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THE BEVIN BOYS
STEVE JONES - NO RELATION
December 1943
The first ballot was drawn
With the optants and the volunteers
The Bevin Boys were born.
You got £3 10 shillings
Plus 25 for your rent
Gotta buy your own pick and shovel
Now that your days are spent
As a Bevin Boy
The Bevin Boys.
Miles away in Europe
Or a mile underground
Soldier or miner
You longed to be homeward bound
Descending in that cage
Risking your life everyday
Say hello to the pit pony
Unlike him at least you get out
At the end of every day
As a Bevin Boy
The Bevin Boys
Known as the underground army
48,000 strong
But if you think they were treated like heroes
Let me tell you,
You’d be wrong.
Called up- sent down
To risk your life underground
The war for you it ended late
They wouldn’t let you out till 1948
No recognition for 50 years
Let’s hear it for the Bevin Boys
We owe so much to the Bevin Boys
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10. |
Your Last Show
03:18
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YOUR LAST SHOW
SKAITH & JONES
He drank a whisky once with Dickie Henderson
One night in Blackpool was a long time ago
He sat and laughed for maybe 15 minutes
And Dickie told him then
You’re only as good as your last show
He spent his Christmases in shaky theatres
Him shaking agents ‘you can’t kid this old pro’
As Ebenezar or an ugly sister
And scrawled on his mirror was
You’re only as good as your last show
Oh yes he is! Oh no he isn’t!
Cos I saw him sweat it out on a hot afternoon
For a bus queue in a broken city
In his mid-Atlantic best he ran it through
Oh no he didn’t!
Oh you’re only as good as your last show
Yes you are you know.
He had an old black magic bummed from Billy Daniels
And a vent-act voice he’d forgotten how to throw
And ‘she had no hair, just…’ and yes, you guessed it
With fingers crossed he’d say
You’re only as good as your last show.
Oh yes he is! Oh no he isn’t!
I saw him sweat it out on a hot afternoon
For a bus queue in a broken city
In his mid-Atlantic best he ran it through
Oh no he didn’t!
Oh we took what we wanted and we left him to go back to
‘Have you seen my Brando’
Back to a very old tuxedo
Back to him calling bingo
Oh you’re only as good as your last show (I think he’s right you know.)
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11. |
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MAGA: A VERY STABLE GENIUS
SKAITH & CAREWE
How many lies, how many bribes
Will make America great again?
How many pay-offs for affairs with adult movie stars
Will make America great again?
Hey, is it too late to make America great again?
Hey, we can’t wait to make America great.
How many photo shoots with the Bible upside down
Will make America great again?
How many proud boys you going to tell ‘stand by’
To make America great again?
How many times you gonna say this virus will just disappear
To make America great again?
How many hundred thousand deaths add up yo ‘just a shame’
To make America great again?
How many years you gonna lie about your tax return
To make America great again?
How far must Lindsey’s tongue go to where the sun don’t shine
To make America great?
ht tps://youtu.be/wz1d72IeYWQ
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12. |
Releasing the Sheep
04:52
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RELEASING THE SHEEP
SKAITH & MACNEILL
Earned it I have this time to rest
Not all perfect but I damned did my best
Maybe the idea of Eden set me up to fail
And the ark and the animals -
For some it was just too tall a tale.
I’m checking out now, handing over the reins
It’s over to you, I won’t be back again.
Open the stockades, I’m releasing the sheep
Time for you to wake up, me I’m going to sleep
You called out my name and passed round a plate
Not my idea to put church into state
Parting the seas was even easier to do
Than watching you fail
To share the land between your neighbours and you.
I’ll be resting now, a crossword in my head
I’ll close my ears to the shouting, I’ll just turn over in bed.
Open the stockades, I’m releasing the sheep
Time for you all to wake up, cos me I’m going to sleep
It was the meek to inherit the earth
But it seems that honour has fallen to the thieves
Open the stockades, I’m releasing the sheep.
My intention was love but it seems you misread
Making up lies, for slaughter instead
Now my bags are unpacked I’m settling in
Can’t hear no church bells, Barechu or Adhan
I’m turning over but not new leaf or cheek
I’m resting for good
I’m resting for good, releasing the sheep.
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13. |
King And Castle
05:08
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KING & CASTLE
JEFFRIES & CAREWE & MACNEILL
I may not be a king but you can be my castle
We’ll hold hands, now and forever after
I’ll read your letters and you can read mine
And we’ll live again the words that time left behind
As our letters shaped a love as long as the Rhein
I may not be a king but you can be my castle
December 65 at Johannesburg station
The seed of a love in an alien nation,
From South West Africa with a country to see
Where Siggi and Inge, and Lielo made three.
The week’s trip was over and on to Cape Town
Inge left with her mother, Siggi missed her around
So letters were sent, from Jo’burg to a nurse
Love lain dormant, growing through words
After two years of writing, of breweries and clarinet
Siggi returned to the woman he met
A year later they married and then came two sons (pause)
The last signature written, as the letters were done.
And 50 years later, they hold hands in bed
Reliving the lines that they heard in their head
with a voice that’s familiar, heard every day
King and Castle together holding words that say
“Sie ist meine Burg”
(For a certain MKF with thanks.)
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Westpark Music Germany
Label, Production- and Publishing Company, founded 1987, based in Cologne, Germany. Releases are CDs, Vinyls, DVDs, sheet music and biographies. Mainly concentrating on music from North of latitude 40. - means: roughly the area above the latitude that goes through Paris. ... more
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